Vermillion Sky
by carmilla35
Summary: Bella/Alice. An AU retelling of the original Twilight with Bella/Alice as the primary pairing.
1. Preface: A dream

**AN: Like the summary says, this is a simple retelling of the original story. Most of the canon relationships will remain, with the obvious expections of Edward/Bella and Jasper/Alice.**

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_Bella lays asleep in her bed, asleep on her side with the covers pulled up to her chin, her black hair spread across the pillow. It is dark and quiet and her expression is peaceful and strangely childlike. She lays in dreamless sleep._

_Outside there is something climbing the drainpipe beside her window. A vampire, female in appearance, small in stature, she climbs quickly and without effort like a lizard, a dark figure, a shadow on the wall in moonlight. The window is unlocked. She lifts it open slowly and climbs in._

_Bella doesn't stir. The vampire closes the window and turns to the room and pauses to inhale deeply, closing her eyes as she does, an expression of serene euphoria passing over her face. It is Bella's scent that excites her so. Finally she opens her eyes and moves to the sleeper's bedside, sauntering, ambling, stepping with a languid grace, a roll of hips, her eyes slightly lidded and her breaths coming fast and deep, a predatory air about her, a ravenous intent. She wears jeans and a top, her hair is short and black. At Bella's bedside she kneels and reaches with a gentle hand to stroke her hair and only now does Bella stir, her eyes moving behind their pale lids as if she'd been touched by a nightmare. The vampire watches her face with eyes as black as night, inky and opaque. She tilts her head. Then she climbs into the bed._

_Gently, so as not to disturb the sleeper. She takes the hem of the quilt and pulls it away and then she takes Bella by the shoulder and rolls her over gently onto her back and then she straddles her waist, the scent so close and warm now that she is having trouble focusing, her eyes rolling and her head lolling on her shoulders, her chest rising and falling rapidly, gazing down at Bella in wistful hunger. _

_Bella wakes, her eyes fluttering open. A spasm of panic at the weight on top of her. She looks up with wide eyes and sees a pale face glowing the dark. She freezes in terror, paralyzed like a doe by the black and smoky orbs staring down at her._

_The vampire lets out a low hiss, leaning down to smell Bella's hair, Bella trembling now. She can't scream, she can't move. Only watch in terror as the vampire rears up and grinds erotically against her hips, letting out another hiss, restraint slowly fading. Her hands were on Bella's shoulders as if to hold her down, but they move now, moving down over her chest and cupping her breasts, an unspeakable warmth through the thin cotton of her tanktop. Bella gasps, beginning to squirm in horror, the hands traveling down to her stomach and slipping coldly under her top to caress her waist and coming back up to again cup her breasts, squeezing them gently, and moving higher still till one of them comes to rest on her left shoulder and the other moves on to snake it's way behind her neck._

_A moment of strange liaison, vampire and victim. The vampire raises her up, guiding her with the hand at her nape. They sit facing each other, the vampire straddling her lap, Bella staring up at her in terror._

"_Alice?" she says in a frightened whimper._

_At the sound of her voice the vampire's resistance shatters completely. Her eyes flare and her pretty face twists into a snarl and suddenly she seizes a handful of Bella's hair and violently wrenches back her head._

_Bella's throat exposed. The vampire swoops to the pale flesh of her neck and bites into it._

_Bella gasps. Blood squirts across the wall and runs down it, blood drips onto the pillow. She can't scream, nor can't she writhe, and already she can feel herself fading. Helpless in the grip of the vampire her head lolls backward and she stares up at the ceiling. Her heart hammers in her chest and her skin is on fire and her eyes are slowly closing. She is fading, fading. She can feel the cold lips at her neck and the cold hands at her back and she can hear the vampire's ravenous moans._

_Then she woke up._

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**AN: I know it's short, but it just a preface; the other chapters will be much longer. Still, I'd love a review just so I know if anyone's interested. :)**


	2. Chapter 1: First sight

Chapter 1: First sight

"Bella?"

Bella startled awake, her eyes shooting open. There was a scream in her throat but she managed to clamp down on it at the last moment.

"Bella, you up?"

The panic of the dream was still fresh, but she recognized her dad's voice. She rolled over and saw him standing in the dimly lit doorway, dressed in his uniform, one hand on the door knob, the other holding his hat. "Yeah, I'm up," she said. She was breathing a bit quick but she managed to conceal her distress. "What happened, did I sleep through my alarm or something?"

"Actually it hasn't gone off yet," he said awkwardly. He looked a bit sheepish at having woken her. "Sorry for waking you, but I just wanted to say good luck before I left for work. Good luck at school. First days can be tough, but you uh… You just be yourself. Okay, Bells?"

Bella gave him a small smile. He might not ever win the father of the year award but he did try. "Thanks, Charlie." Then she remembered he didn't like her using his first name and added, "Dad, I mean."

He nodded. He hesitated there in the doorway, looking off at the far wall, as if trying to remember more fatherly gestures he ought to make. Then he just nodded again and left, closing the door behind him.

It was dark in the room, dark and quiet. Bella looked at her alarm clock and groaned. Half an hour before she had to get up. She rolled onto her back and put her forearm over her eyes. She was still breathing a little deeply, and as she lay there the dream she woke from came back to her, her face scrunching up in disgust. She noted with a little tinge of revulsion that she'd gotten a bit wet. She didn't fret so much over the getting killed part, but the whole getting felt up by a sexy vampire chick part was just… eww. There was nothing graphic about it, thank god, but still, she could've done without it. She wasn't homophobic or anything—well not compared to some people—but the last thing she wanted was a gay subconscious. She had enough trouble fitting in as it was.

Since she still had half an hour to go before the alarm went off, she decided to try and get back to sleep but she couldn't. She only gotten maybe four of five hours last night, and her eyes felt hot and grainy, but she was too nervous to sleep. Finally she just got up. She went over to the window and threw open the drapes but it made little difference to the light in the room. She stood there in her shorts and tanktop, rubbing her arms. Outside it was grey clouds and drizzle. Another beautiful day in Forks.

Her suitcase lay on her desk, already unzipped and flipped open from her halfhearted attempt at unpacking yesterday. She got some clothes and stuff from it and then she was padding down the hallway toward the bathroom. She took a shower and emerged from behind the curtain in a puff of steam, a slender girl, pale and willowy. She wiped the steamed up mirror with her hand and regarded her blurred reflection for a moment. She cocked her head, her hair clinging wet and black against her pale skin. She supposed she was pretty, but she could never tell. If she was there'd be some proof, wouldn't there? A boyfriend back in Phoenix eagerly awaiting her call? Maybe it was because she was shy that she'd never had a boyfriend. She'd had crushes sure, but none of them ever asked her out. They probably never even knew she existed. Bella sighed and turned away from the mirror. Who knows, maybe she'd meet someone here. Anything's possible.

When she left the house she was dressed in jeans and a hoody. And boots. Her truck was parked on the curb, an antique Ford, red and rusty. It had been a sort of coming home present from her dad which was a nice surprise, but more than the truck it made her feel good just to know that he actually wanted her here. She would've hated being a problem.

As she crossed the front lawn she looked up at the sky. Out of old habit from living in Phoenix she lifted a hand as a visor against the sun, but here there was no sun. Just a paleness beyond the cloudcover. It was cold too, but she didn't mind so much. She preferred more clothes to less, the blacker the better, and she'd never really been a sunny sort of girl. Call her emo.

She got in the truck and pulled away. The town seemed pretty dead at this time of morning. A scattered pedestrian here and there. The closer she got to the school the worse her nerves became. First day fears. What if nobody even speaks to her? She started to spot other kids as she neared the school. Coming around the corner she could see the parking lot and she took a quick inventory of the other cars there. Nothing particularly flashy from what she could see. A couple trucks, a van or two. When she pulled into the lot, she killed the engine and sat there for a moment, just calmly collecting herself. Outside other students stood grouped around certain cars, talking, chatting. She took a deep breath. Okay Bella, she told herself. First day, big deal. No one's gonna bite you.

Sufficiently psyched, she opened the door and got out. She slammed shut the door and looked up over the lot and as she did she froze.

There was a girl standing over there, a small pixielike girl with short black hair and pale skin.

It was her.

The vampire from Bella's dream, standing not twenty feet away by a silver Volvo.

There were others with her but she was the only one Bella noticed. She was talking with someone taller than her, looking up at him, smiling, laughing, her pretty face in profile. She had the same short black hair, the same pale skin, the same small figure, the same exquisite face, but it couldn't be the same girl. It was impossible. How could you dream about someone you'd never met?

Maybe she sensed Bella's eyes on her because now she turned. Their eyes met and at first she seemed stunned. Her eyes widened, amber in color, not black, and her lips parted slightly but only for a moment before curving into a smile. It was like she herself recognized Bella from somewhere, as if she were an old friend spotted in a crowd, but that wasn't it either. There was something else in her smile, something coquettish, something sultry. Bella frowned and looked away. There was a strange floaty feeling in her chest. She went to move away but after only one step she stopped and glanced back. The pixiegirl's smile widened and she seemed pleasantly taken aback, glancing away shyly and glancing back again. Bella frowned harder and then she turned and hurried away across the lot toward the front office.

The receptionist sat at a small desk behind the counter, typing away at a computer. Bella went over and leaned her forearm on the countertop. She looked back through the double glassdoors and the girl wasn't out there anymore. Jeez, that was weird. As if the dream didn't shake her up enough, she had to go and meet someone who looked exactly like her. And what the hell was she smiling about anyway?

The receptionist typed on. A large woman with frizzy orange hair. Bella glanced at the clock. Finally she cleared her throat and said, "Excuse me, I'm Bella Swan…"

Now the woman looked up, curiosity piqued. "Oh the chief's daughter?"

Bella was only half surprised she was recognized. She gave her a weak smile. "Yeah," she said. "That's me I guess."

The receptionist tried her in small talk—how do you like Forks, how's your father—but Bella was too nervous to be chatty. She gave one word answers, smiling as it seemed appropriate. Finally the receptionist gave her a schedule, a map, and a slip she was supposed to have her teachers sign and bring back at the end of the day. She was actually quite nice. For a Monday morning she managed one hell of a cheerful smile and went on to explain her classes for her, speaking calmly and gently as if she was dealing with a preschooler.

When Bella left she was looking down at her map, shuffling through the corridors in feigned concentration, avoiding other people's eyes. When she got to her locker she stood poking around inside, waiting for the bell. She was so nervous that when it rang she almost jumped. The hallway cleared out behind her. She closed the locker door softly. She didn't want to be late but still she lingered. Finally she just took a deep breath and turned and went trudging off to her first class at Fork's High.

First up physics, and what a subject to start your day with. She sat in the back naturally—after having the teacher sign the slip—and spent the lesson slouched in her chair, glancing furtively at the rest of the class. Her thoughts drifted back to the girl in the parking lot. The similarity to the vampire in her dream was one thing, but what was she smiling about? Maybe she recognized Bella as the new girl and was trying to be friendly. That had to be it. But it was still kinda weird.

The teacher droned on in the background, Bella barely listening. She was wondering what the girl's name was, and the more she wondered the more she wanted to find out. In the dream her name was Alice, and suddenly it seemed really important that she find out and make sure that in real life it was something else.

Class continued and soon it was over. Bella stood and gathered up her books, dawdling at her desk. Two girls across the room were watching her, a short blonde and a tall brunette. They were whispering and pointing, perhaps assessing whether or not Bella was worth speaking to. Bella noticed and wondered what the hell they were looking at. Then they came over.

"So," said the blonde. "You must be Isabella. Right?"

Bella half smiled and gave a small nod. "Just Bella."

"Well hi. I'm Jessica."

The brunette beside her smiled. "And I'm Angela."

The blonde, Jessica, was short and longhaired, dressed in jeans and a sweater. Pretty enough, Bella thought, but her face was sort of pinched, and with her small body and highpitched voice she kind of remained her of a rat.

The other girl, Angela, seemed nicer even at a glance. She was at least half a foot taller than her friend, taller than Bella even and Bella no midget. Her hair was very long and very dark brown. She stood with her books cradled against her hip, smiling shyly. She was wearing a long black skirt which didn't look stupid on her at all.

Bella nodded at them. "Hey."

The blonde, Jessica, nodded back and glanced over at where the other kids where filing out of the classroom. She looked back at Bella. "So, what's you're next class?"

As it turned out, the three of them had quite a few classes together. Their timetables were practically identical to Bella's and by lunchtime it was becoming obvious that she'd made her first two friends. They stood in line at the cafeteria, the three of them, Jessica prattling on about some movie she saw that really sucked, Bella nodding and murmuring responses, Angela just standing by quietly. Bella liked Angela better. Jessica was loud and stupid, but it's not like you get to choose your friends. After they'd gotten their lunch Jessica led them over to their usual table where a few others were sitting, some guys, some girls.

"Hey guys," Jessica said. "You mind if the new girl sits with us?"

They looked at Bella without much enthusiasm. They shrugged, they nodded.

Introductions followed, Bella forgetting most of the names as soon as they were mentioned. Jessica went over and sat next to some guy called Mike, a baby faced boy with blonde hair carefully gelled into spikes, and Angela sat next to a guy with bad skin and oily black hair, Eric she thought his name was. Bella sat next to Angela and quietly began unwrapping her sandwich. Conversation at the table resumed. Bella was mostly ignored, which suited her fine. She'd never been one for attention. She noticed Mike toss her a glance from time to time, and she thought she saw another blonde there called Lauren sneering at her with a sort of classroom queen superiority, but other than that these people seemed friendly enough.

Bella sat there listening, but soon her thoughts had drifted back to the girl she'd seen in the parking lot. She wanted to know her name. She hadn't been in any of her classes this morning, and Bella was starting to think they might not even be in the same grade. She scanned the cafeteria for her, in case maybe she might muster up the courage to point her out and ask someone her name. For some reason she wasn't expecting to see her, hoping that maybe the sighting in the parking lot was just some weird hallucination, and she was about to go back to her sandwich when she saw her.

She'd glimpsed her through the window. She was just arriving, her and four others. They were all remarkably beautiful, like unrealistically perfect. They came in, pushing the door open and swaggering inside with all the aplomb of moviestars. The first guy through the doors was a guy of boyband cuteness, with short bronze colored hair. He came in with a vague frown on his pretty face, casting his eyes from side to side, as if to note who was looking at him or to warn them not too. Next was a huge guy with a hulking physique, an imposing presence but a playful smile about his mouth. As he walked he put his arm around the waist of the girl beside him, an exquisite looking blonde with long flowing hair and a figure to make your heart clench in jealousy. After them came another guy, this one with long blonde hair. He was tall and lean, almost wiry, and handsome in an old fashioned kind of way, chiseled jawbone and narrow eyes. Lastly came the girl.

When Bella had seen her in the parking lot she'd been twenty feet away, but this time she passed within two tables, and Bella could see that she really did look _exactly_ like the vampire from her dream. She found herself staring, watching the lively grace with which she moved, weaving between the tables in heeled boots, overtaking her companions and twirling to speak with them, walking backwards, smiling and laughing.

She was smiling when she happened to glance over at Bella. Their eyes caught. Bella looked down at her tray and looked up again. Still smiling, the girl touched the arm of the tall guy she was talking too and tossed her chin in Bella's direction. The tall guy turned to look. He smiled and said something to her, and the girl giggled and wove her arm around his and they continued on to their table.

Bella frowned down at her tray. What the hell was all that about? Were they laughing at her?

"That's the Cullen's."

Bella looked up. It was Angela who'd spoken, motioning loosely over to the other table.

"Cullens?" Bella asked, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"That's their name," Angela clarified. "They're all brothers and sisters. Adopted brothers and sisters."

Bella nodded. She took a quick look around her table but no one seemed to notice their little conversation. They went on talking among themselves.

"It's surprising the first time you see them, isn't it?" Angela said, with a shy little smile. "They look like models or something."

"Yeah," Bella said, glancing over at these Cullens uneasily. They did look like models, but why were they so pale? Not just their skin, but their eye's too. It was kind of creepy. "So, they're all part of the same family?"

At this Jessica piped up. "Yeah, and you know what else?" she smirked. "You see the big guy and the blonde? They're together. Like romantically. Isn't that sick?"

Bella shrugged. She thought it was probably pretty sick, but she didn't like to say bad things about people so she said nothing.

Jessica continued. "There was a rumor that the tall guy and the shrimp were together too, but if they are at least they have the decency not to hold hands and kiss and stuff in public, like those other two sickos. But who cares anyway? They're all jerks."

At the conclusion of her little speech, Jessica turned back to Mike and laughed at something he said and forgot all about it. Bella blinked, wondering if there was some kind of grudge there.

Angela leaned slightly to Bella. "They're not so bad," she said quietly, as if not wanting anyone else to hear. "The Cullen's, I mean. The short one's actually quite nice."

At the mention of the 'short one,' Bella felt a little shiver. She felt an insane urge to ask her name, but was afraid too. What if it really was Alice? What then? She looked over at the Cullen table and saw the short one was watching her. She tilted her head and smiled. Bella looked away.

"Jessica's just bitter," Angela said, dropping her voice even lower. She smiled mischievously. "She got rebuffed by Edward pretty cleanly last month."

Bella smiled back, but she was distracted. She was dying to ask the girl's name, but at the same time she just wanted to forget the whole thing. She found herself asking, "Which one's Edward?"

"Oh, he's the guy with the bronze hair."

Bella nodded. She glanced over again and locked eyes with the girl who looked like the girl from her dream. Unfortunately, Angela had glanced over at the same time and noticed. She turned back to Bella, smiling. "They seemed to have noticed you too."

"Yeah," Bella frowned, swallowing a lump in her throat. She was actually giddy from the urge to know the girl's name. She motioned with her chin at the Cullen table. "Which one is that staring at me?" she asked in a remarkably stable voice.

Angela glanced over. "Who, the short one?"

"Yeah."

Angela smiled. "That's Alice."

Bella's blood went cold.

"She's actually quite nice," Angela continued, turning back to Bella. "If you ever get a chance to talk to her, that is."


	3. Chapter 2: A whisper

**AN: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 2: A whisper

Lunch continued, everyone eating and talking, all except for Bella. She'd lost her appetite. She was staring down at her tray, but she was having trouble thinking. It just wasn't possible. How could you not only dream about someone you'd never met, but dream their name as well? Apperance was one thing, it could be confused, misremembered, but the name was distinct. It was just a dream, but she'd heard it distinctly. Alice. She even remembered her own frightened tone. But what were the chances? Was it even possible?

And if her name really was Alice, could she really be a vampire too?

Bella didn't even want to go there. No way. She glanced up at the Cullen table and saw that they getting ready to leave. Alice rose gracefully to her feet and passed off her tray to one of her brothers. She glanced over at Bella and smiled before averting her eyes and moving on. Bella swallowed and went back to staring at her tray. There was something seriously wrong here.

After lunch they all went back to class. Bella kept praying that she wouldn't have any classes with Alice, but she didn't have the courage to ask one of her new friends if she was even in the same grade.

The day was winding down, only two classes left. Biology and PE. Bella went down the corridor with Jessica, Angela gone off to English. They had biology with Mike too, Jessica was saying, but he wasn't walking with them. When they reached the lab, Bella pushed opened the door, wondering what her lab partner would be like. She scanned the room, looking for empty spaces at the benches, and as her eyes swept the room they came to rest upon the pale face of Alice Cullen.

Their eyes met. Bella noticed an empty space beside her and froze there in the doorway.

Behind her came Jessica's annoyed voice. "Move it, new girl."

"Oh, sorry…"

Bella's heartrate picked up. She stepped in, Jessica following. They hung their jackets on hooks and Bella glanced over at Alice and their eyes met yet again. Bella looked away and saw Edward Cullen was in this class too, but the empty space beside him was soon occupied by a disdainful Jessica. She went over to the teacher and handed him the slip. He was sitting at his desk, grading papers it looked like. She introduced herself and he asked her how does she like Forks, how does she like her classes, and then he stood up and surveyed the room, seeking her out a lab partner.

The classroom was filled by now, and the only free space left was beside Alice. Bella noted it with a hollow feeling n her stomach.

"Okay, Isabella," the teacher said. "Why don't you take a seat next to Alice over there?"

Bella swallowed. She nodded and started down the aisle of benches, looking at the ground. When she came up beside Alice the girl was staring down at the desk. She looked absolutely frozen and Bella wondered what was wrong with her. Close up like this she appeared even smaller, and her skin so much paler. Pale and clear and without a blemish of any kind. Bella remembered the dream, how that face had glowed in the dark. She shivered and sat on the stool beside her, laying down her books. Neither spoke. There was about a foot of space between them. Slowly Bella turned to look at her and as she did Alice did too. Their eyes met and they both looked down, Bella's heart skipping a beat. The teacher began the lesson.

They sat in silence, bent over their books. Bella was starting to feel feverish. She could smell the girl beside her, a delicate floral scent. Electricity in the air, the room gently humming. Bella risked a glance and noted that Alice was breathing deeply, her chest visibly rising and falling, staring down at her notebook in intense concentration and yet the page blank, nothing written there at all. Bella glanced over at the front of the class where Jessica was sitting beside Edward. She saw him glance back over his shoulder, glance at Bella and glance at Alice, frowning darkly. He looked worried, very worried. Pale and yellow-eyed, something sinister about him, about his whole family, and most of all about the girl beside her right now.

Bella looked down at her textbook. Beside her she could hear Alice breathing, long deep breaths. Bella swallowed, her eyes darting to the side. Finally she turned to look. Alice did too. Their eyes met and locked, neither looking away this time, and with a sinking heart Bella saw that Alice's eyes weren't amber anymore.

They were black. Deep, dark black, exactly like the vampire from the dream.

Impossible, impossible. Bella's heart was racing. Alice's red lips were parted slightly, and Bella would hear a low hissing sound. Soft and menacing. Alice was staring, her black eyes flickering over Bella's face, her lips, her neck. She lifted her eyes to Bella's and gazed into them. "Hi," she said in a breathy whisper.

Bella almost didn't hear. Her throat was tight and her was heart thudding in her ears. "H-Hey," she said, trying to be casual.

Alice smiled, a slow smile of serene delight. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. She opened them again and they were beyond black now. A smoky hunger swirling in them, a black desire. She leveled at Bella a sultry look and suddenly she lunged toward her.

Bella didn't know what to think. Part of her was afraid Alice was going to kiss her in front of the whole class in some sort of sick nightmarish prank, while another part suspected something far more sinister. Either way she was freaking out. She recoiled sharply from the pale face coming at her and shrieked out, "Get away from me…!"

Heads turned to look. The teacher stopped talking. Alice had snapped out of whatever impulse had seized her and her hands flew to her mouth, like a child aghast at what she'd done or been about to do. Edward was on his feet, glaring at her. A fretful look past over her face, and suddenly she ran toward the door, leaving her books behind on the bench.

"Miss Cullen?" the teacher said.

But she didn't even look back. She ran out the room, the door swinging shut behind her.

"Sir," Edward said, already inching toward the door. "My sister obviously isn't feeling well, may I have permission to escort her to the nurse's office?"

The teacher nodded. He looked concerned. "Yes, I think you'd better."

Edward hurried away. Bella watched him go, her heart hammering. People were looking at Bella questioningly after her outburst, even the teacher, but Bella was staring down at her desk. What had just happened? She didn't even know…

.

Alice stood before the mirror in the girl's bathroom, leaning with her palms on the rim of one of the basins, a labored look about her. The tap was turned on full and she was breathing in and out with her eyes closed, inhaling the cool metallic smell of the water. It had a purifying effect on her and when she opened her eyes she saw in the mirror that they'd gone back to their normal yellow color. She sighed in relief. She closed the tap.

Behind her the bathroom door swung open and she knew it was Edward come to check on her.

"It was her," Alice said, without turning. "The girl from my visions."

Edward came up beside her. His face in the mirror seemed torn between worry and concern for his sister.

"It was her," Alice repeated. "Not a look-alike, and not a mistake. It really _is_ her."

Edward nodded. "I know, Alice."

"It was her scent," Alice went on, turning to him. "I've never smelt anything like that in my life. Could you smell her? It was like…." she tailed off, a distant look passing over her face.

Edward put a hand on Alice's shoulder to reground her. When Alice looked at him he said, "You can't go back in there, Alice."

Alice was shaking her head. "You don't understand, Edward. Her scent, it's…"

"…Addicting," Edward finished for her.

Alice turned away to the mirror. She met his eyes in the reflection and lowered them again. "Yes," she said. "Even from such brief exposure... It's all I can think about."

"All the more reason for you to just walk away. It's too risky."

Alice didn't answer.

Edward smiled gently. "I know what you're thinking," he said. "You think you're strong enough to withstand it, but I can tell you that you're not. The visions you've been having of this girl… You always said they were random and erratic, as if fate can't seem to make up it's mind, and now I think we can see why. This girl, Alice, isn't your mate. Or your friend, or your sister. She's your victim. All the other scenarios you've envisioned of love and friendship proceed from your conflicted lust for her blood and nothing else. I always suspected it would be like this, but…"

Alice frowned. "No, no, I've seen things," she said, her voice rising. "I've seen us walking to school, I've seen us going shopping together. I've seen us… kissing. I've even seen her as one of us, Edward. I won't deny that I've had visions of attacking her, but… I can't possibly believe she's destined to be nothing more than a victim."

Edward set his expression. "Regardless," he said sternly. "It's too dangerous for you too just walk back into that classroom like nothing happened. You need to hunt and clear your head. Just go now, I'll make your excuses to the teacher for you. Besides, after the way you acted I wouldn't be surprised if this girl started to suspect something."

Alice stared down into the drain.

Edward watched her. His expression softened. "Alice," he said softly. "There's an innocent girl's life at stake."

Alice took a shuddering breath. "I know."

.

Bella sat in the biology lab, pen in hand, staring down at the paper. Trying to figure out what had just happened. Alice had been staring at her and then she… what? Tried to kiss her? And what about those eyes? Maybe her pupils were dilated. Maybe she popped a pill when Bella wasn't looking or something.

She kept glancing at the door. If Alice really was sick, Bella didn't think she would be back. At least she hoped she wouldn't be.

About ten minutes later Edward returned. Bella looked up and actually sighed in relief when she saw there was no Alice with him. Edward went over to the teacher and whispered with him for a bit and then he glanced up at Bella and made his way over. Bella froze. What did he want? Bella was still pretty freaked out, but it seemed like he only came over to get his sister's books. He piled them up, glared once at Bella, and went away.

After class Bella started down a random corridor, still sort of dazed. Jessica ran to catch her up. "Omigod," she said, falling into step beside her. "Did you see the way that _freak_ was staring at you? That just wasn't normal."

Bella glanced at her.

Jessica lowered her voice, smirking. "Do you think she's, you know… Lesbo?"

"I don't know," Bella snapped. Actually, she thought Alice was something much worse than gay. "Maybe she's just sick."

Jessica laughed. "I don't know, Bella. A family capable of incest is capable of anything. I'd watch out if I were you. Not even stalker's stare like _that._"

Bella ignored her. On the outside she looked calm and disinterested. On the inside she was freaking out.

"But anyway," Jessica said. "What's you're next class?"

"Uh." Bella had forgotten. She stopped and dug her schedule out her pocket. Her hands were shaking slightly. "PE."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "The gym's back there, dummy."

Bella twirled on the spot, looking about.

Jessica grinned. "Come on, new girl, I'll walk you."

PE was the last lesson of the day and thankfully Bella wasn't required to participate. She sat on the sidelines, staring at the polished boardfloor. After school she took the slip back to the receptionist. She handed it over the counter and the woman took it with a insanely cheerful smile. "So," she said. "How did you enjoy your first day?"

Bella's stomach was twisted inside her and she felt close to fainting. "It was okay," she said.

Outside it was cold and windy. She scanned the parking lot for sign of Alice or any of the Cullens but there wasn't any. She flipped up the hood of her hoody, hurried across the lot, got in her truck, and pulled away.

When she got home, she tried reading a book but she was too distracted. She sat against the headboard of her bed, her eyes constantly drifting off the page. It just wasn't possible. How can you dream of someone you'd never met? She looked over the top of the book at the window. She frowned. Then she laid down the book and went over.

It was stupid but she had to check. She opened the drapes. It was an old house, and the window was old too. Small, rectangle, no lock. Bella lifted it up, the frame scrapping. A cold wind washed over her, making her shiver. This was so stupid, but she had to know. She took a deep breath and poked her head out.

"Oh god," she moaned.

There was a drainpipe right there beside her window, exactly the same as the dream. She last time she'd been around the back of the house she must've been about eight or something, and she certainly hadn't remembered the pipe. So how could it appear in the dream?

Bella slammed down the window, whirled around, and began pacing back and forth. She put a hand to her forehead. "Okay Bella," she said out loud. "You're starting to freak me out now, so just shut up okay?"

She stopped and took a deep breath. What she needed was someone to tell her she was being stupid, that's what she needed. She _was_ being stupid, wasn't she?

Suddenly she heard something downstairs. The front door opening, the doorchain rattling. She froze. She knew it was probably Charlie, but she'd only been living here two days, it could be anyone. A burglar or murder or Alice coming to eat her up, she didn't know. "Dad?" she called out, her voice breaking slightly.

"Bells!" he called back. "I got pizza, you hungry?"

Bella let out a breath. It was just Charlie.

They sat at the kitchen table, pizza box between them. Bella didn't have much of an appetite but she forced herself to eat. They'd had pizza last night too, and Bella had a feeling they'd be having it for as if it took her to offer to cook.

"So…" Charlie said, breaking the silence. "How'd it go at school? Have fun?"

Bella knew it was coming. She managed a smile. "It was alright."

He nodded. "Well. That's good."

Bella nodded too. She took a bite.

"Make any friends?" he asked.

Bella shrugged a shoulder. "A couple."

He nodded. "Well. That's good."

Bella nodded too.

They fell silent, sitting there chewing. Charlie took a sip of beer. He looked off at the kitchen cabinets, as if he might fetch some topics of conversation from them. Finally he thought of something. "What about the truck?" he asked, reaching for another slice. "She go okay, no problems?"

Bella nodded. "Yep. She 'went' just fine."

He nodded. "Good. Good. Good truck, that truck. They don't make em like that thing anymore."

More nodding, more silence.

Charlie cleared his throat. "So who are these new friends?"

"Um…" Bella had to think. "There was one girl called Jessica. And another called Angela."

"Nice kids?"

"I guess."

Charlie nodded. He looked around the room.

Bella finished her slice. She'd had only had two, and even them were forced. She knew she wouldn't be eating anymore. She swallowed dryly. She felt she needed to say something, anything. "Hey dad," she began.

He looked up. "Yeah, Bells?"

Bella hesitated. "I was just wondering… Have you ever heard of the Cullens?"

"Sure," Charlie said, nodding. "Nice family. Dr Cullen and his wife, they live out on the end of park drive. Huge house. Beautiful lawn."

"I met one of their daughters today," she found herself saying. "She was my lab partner in biology."

"Oh yeah? Which one?"

Bella's mouth was dry. "Alice," she said.

"Alice," Charlie repeated, staring off at the kitchen cabinets again. "Short one, right? Black hair?"

"Mm."

Charlie nodded. "Nice kid. I met her a couple times at the hospital. She volunteers down there every now and them, her and her mom. Dr Cullen, he's head surgeon. Great doctor, Dr Cullen. We're lucky to have him."

Bella nodded vaguely, her mind absorbed in what she'd heard. Her dad's a doctor and she volunteers at a hospital. For what? A free supply of bloodbags?

Charlie spoke up. "So, did you like her?"

Bella looked at him. "Who?" she asked stupidly.

"Alice."

"Er…" Bella hesitated. She remembered those inky black eyes, the way Alice had lunged at her. The floaty feeling in her chest was back, the twisting in her stomach. "I'm not sure," she said.

After dinner, Bella washed the plates and Charlie went to watch the game. Bella didn't follow baseball (or football or basketball or any other kind of ball) so when she was done with the dishes, she popped into the living from to say goodnight. It was still kind of early but she told him she was tired.

Upstairs she changed into her shorts and tanktop and brushed her teeth in the bathroom. She spat and stared down at the sink, toothbrush in hand. It occurred to her that the dream might come true. If she'd dreamed the girl, and dreamed her name, and dreamed the drainpipe, maybe she had dreamed her death too. Could it be possible? Could tonight be her last? She lifted her eyes to the mirror. They were wide and bright and she looked really, really scared. She could taste the mint in her mouth and she felt sick inside. She lowered her head and spat again and then she rinsed and left the bathroom, flipping off the light and shutting the door behind her.

In her bedroom she stood in her pajamas with her hand at the light switch. She looked around the room worriedly, but she wasn't satisfied. She let her hand drop and went tiptoeing about the room, checking behind the desk, checking inside the closet. She even looked under the bed, on her hands and knees, as if Alice might be laying in wait under there like some weird funnelweb. She stood and went over to the window. She would've asked Charlie to put a lock on it, but she didn't want to freak him out and she was being stupid anyway, wasn't she? Finally she took the chair from the desk and propped it up against the windowframe and stood looking at it. A pretty stupid thing to do. If anything it would probably help an intruder in. She scratched the back of her head. Then she threw up her hands in exasperation and said, "Whatever, this is stupid."

When she finally got into bed she was exhausted but unable to sleep. She lay there on her side, blinking in the darkness, straining her ears to hear if the window would open. She wondered if she was going crazy. Maybe it was all in her head. Maybe she never had a dream at all. Maybe she only _thought_ she'd known Alice's name before hand. That was possible, wasn't it? It wasn't exactly a comforting thought to think you might be going crazy, but it was better than the possibility that you might die tonight. Then again, who's to say it would be tonight? Maybe it would be some other night. After all, there was no calendar in the dream. If it was going to happen, it could happen anytime. Couldn't it?

But then Bella remembered Alice's eyes, the blackness, the hunger in them. That wasn't a dream. And Jessica commented on it too, so it wasn't a delusion either. And she had lunged. At Bella's neck. So if you assumed for one reality-suspended moment that Alice is in fact a vampire, then it's probably safe to assume she was going to do it right there. But she stopped. Why? Witnesses?

Bella rolled over, her eyes closed now, slowly drifting to sleep. She was being stupid, that's what she was being. There's no such thing as vampires. No such thing…

Outside the wind blew. The window rattled in it's frame but Bella didn't stir.

She'd fallen asleep.


	4. Chapter 3: An old friend

Chapter 3: An old friend

Bella survived the night, and in the morning she actually felt a little silly at how relieved she was to be alive. It was stupid but part of her honestly thought that last night was going to be her last.

After she got up and showered, she sat at the kitchen table and had a big bowl of cereal. She hadn't ate much yesterday and she was making up for it now. Her appetite was back but the fear was still there too, just less intense, a mild gnawing at her stomach. She kept glancing out the window as she ate as if Alice might pop up any moment. She was _not_ looking forward to biology.

When she got to school, she pulled up just in time to see the Cullen's exiting their little silver Volvo. She watched them through the windshield and she couldn't help but notice that Alice was not among them. Maybe she really was sick. Inside Bella met up with Jessica and Angela in one of the corridors. The day proceeded much like the one before, and between classes Bella would be on the look out in the halls for Alice but she never saw her. Even at lunch time there was no Alice at the Cullen table. There was just the four others and for some reason they seemed as much wary of Bella as Bella was of them. Edward was the only one she knew by name, and she caught him glaring over at her a few times, the leggy blonde glaring too. The big guy only smirked when he glanced over, and the tall one looked mildly speculative, studying Bella from across the cafeteria with a rather detached air, elbows leaning on the table either side of his tray, idly twirling a French-fry between his long fingers. Bella didn't know what to make of it. She looked toward doors that led into the cafeteria but still, no Alice.

Biology was right after lunch and even though Alice wasn't in the canteen, Bella was still nervous. She took a deep breath before opening the door. She walked in and looked up and—

Still no Alice.

She took her seat, the same stool as yesterday, and waited. People trickled in. Bella glanced at the empty stool beside her. There was a curious fluttering in her stomach, like… butterflies? Was she actually a little disappointed? Bella frowned down at the desk. The teacher began the lesson, and Alice never arrived.

A week went by, and Alice wasn't at school once. Bella's fears had faded over the week, and now she was preoccupied with other things like fitting in. She'd become a little more lively with her new friends, during lunchtime and between classes. There was still a distance between them though, and she wouldn't actually call any of them friends to their faces, except maybe Angela. They were alright company. Even Jessica, surprisingly. Bella tried to make it a habit of not talking about people behind their backs, but Jessica had no such scruples. One of her favorite subjects was the Cullens and in Bella she found an eager, if rather quiet, audience. She told her how the Cullens were all jerks, and how Rosalie was the worst of them all. Bella guessed Rosalie was the blonde, and she was in no way disposed to disagree with her new friend. She'd met Rosalie in the halls one morning, a common enough occurrence in a school who's population barely exceeds three-hundred. They'd passed each other going in opposite directions and Bella was actually stunned at the distain in the blonde's glance.

As the days passed Bella fell into routine, but the fear of Alice was always in the back of her mind. She wondered what their first meeting would be like, whether or not Alice would apologize and if she did what would she apologize for? In the evenings Bella would check the newspaper when her dad was done with it—the Forks Daily—for any news of grisly murders or unexplained disappearances. She never found anything even remotely vampire-like and after a couple days she stopped looking, deciding that she really was being stupid.

All in all it wasn't a bad first week. She was getting along with Charlie, and she was now the official cook of the house. She was e-mailing her mom to stay in touch, and she'd made some decent friends. She'd been dreaming of Alice almost every night, but nothing like that first dream. That dream had been so intense she could almost feel it, but these dreams were vague and indistinct, just little vignettes of dread. They never woke her up at night and in the morning she'd shake them off before even brushing her teeth.

By the weekend she was in a fairly good mood. On Saturday Charlie was having an old friend over for dinner and to watch the football game, Billy Black, an old fishing buddy. Charlie said he'd get pizza but Bella said she didn't mind cooking, and that night saw her standing at the stove in an apron with her hair tied back, smiling to herself at how domesticated she felt. She was boiling pasta when the phone rang, stirring the steaming pot with a wooden spoon. She glanced over her shoulder toward the living room, and she heard Charlie answer it and she heard him talking. She heard him hang up and then he came to the kitchen and popped his head around the wall.

"Hey Bells," he said. "That was Billy. He said Jacob wants to come watch the game too, that okay with you?"

Bella shrugged a shoulder. "I guess. Is he eating?"

Charlie grinned. "Hell Bells, one smell of your cooking he won't be able to resist."

Bella rolled her eyes and smiled. "I'll make sure there's enough then."

Charlie smiled and went back to the living room to watch his shows. Bella went back to her cooking but she was a little nervous now. Jacob was Billy's son, and he was about a year younger than her. She hadn't seen him since they were kids and even then she barely remembered him. From what she'd been told he was always sweet on her, and while she wasn't usually prone to the typical vanities of a teenage girl, she couldn't help but wonder if this Jacob was really coming to see the game or to see her.

Bella was still cooking when they arrived. There was a knock at the door and Charlie went to answer. She left the stuff on the stove and wandered out into the living room where she could already hear voices.

"There she is," Charlie said, when Bella appeared. "Bella, you remember Billy?"

Billy was in a wheelchair, courtesy of a car accident some years ago. He had black hair and a long face. He nodded at her, smiling. "Bella," he said, by way of greeting.

Bella waved awkwardly, standing there in her apron. "Hey."

She looked around for Jacob and saw him standing a bit off to the side with his hands in his pockets, a lanky boy—very tall—with long black hair and a shy smile. He had coppercolored skin and big bright eyes, and Bella was a little startled that he was so cute. She hadn't expected him to be cute. They glanced at each other and she gave him an awkward wave too. "Hey Jake. Been a while, huh?"

He smiled, shuffling on the spot. "Yeah, it's uh… good to see you," he finished lamely.

Bella nodded casually.

The adults shared a look. Even they could discern a tension there. Billy turned to Bella. "So," he said, sniffing the air. "Something sure does smell good. Charlie tells me you've been cooking for him, Bella?"

Seizing the levity, Bella turned to him with a friendly smile, an natural hostess, and they joked for a bit about at how useless a cook Charlie was. Bella could only chat for a couple minutes before she had to go check the stove, and as she was backing away she shared a glance with Jacob and was once more surprised at how cute he gotten.

About ten minutes later they were sitting down to eat, Charlie wheeling Billy in from the living room. Bella served the plates, pasta and salad. Charlie and Billy were loud and pleasantly boisterous, leaning over their plates and inhaling the steam, remarking how good it smelled. Jacob was like a shy little boy, sitting there with his hands in his lap. When she put his plate before him he whispered a thank you but it came out hoarse and almost silent so he cleared his throat and said it again, frowning and blushing. She smiled at him and took her own seat, right opposite.

They started eating and after the initial round of compliments to the cook the men fell to talking about sports to the exclusion of all else. Jacob loosened up after a while and joined in, but it was always obvious that he was the youngest person at the table. Even though he was the tallest, taller than Charlie even, he had a young boy's humility, cautious with his words, polite, friendly. Bella thought that was cute too. Their eyes caught from time to time over their plates, and by the end of the meal Bella had decided she liked him. Not like like _like_ like, but like how you'd like any guy you thought was cute and kind of nice.

When Charlie was finished he pushed his plate and slouched back in his chair. "Goddamn, Bells," he said. "I should've had you come live with me a long time ago."

Bella smiled.

Jacob snatched the opportunity to say something. "Yeah, it was… really good."

Bella gave a little nod. "Thanks."

"Hey Jake," Charlie smirked. "Why don't you give Bella a hand with the dishes? You look like you wanna catch up a little bit."

Bella shot him a look. "I'm fine, dad. Besides, he'll miss the first part of the game."

Jacob smiled hesitantly. "I don't mind really. And I'd love to help."

"See, it's fine," Charlie said, and then he smirked at Billy. "At least one of em's a good guest."

Billy snorted. Bella sighed and looked at Jacob. He smiled awkwardly and she had to smile too.

Ten minutes later the men were off in the living room and Bella was at the sink, washing the plates and passing them to Jacob who stood at her side with a dishtowel. She was only on the second plate when the first cheer went up from the living room. Bella glanced over her shoulder and she smiled at Jacob. "I've never seen my dad like this. He's usually more… quiet."

Jacob smiled back. "Yeah, he and my dad have been friends forever. They're like kids when you get em together."

Bella laughed. She handed him a plate. He took it with both hands and a servant's solicitousness, as if he were being extra careful not to drop it. "So, um," he said. "How've you been since we last seen each other?"

"Not bad. You know, school and stuff."

"How do you like Forks?"

"It's…" Bella struggled for a word. "…good," she settled on.

He smiled. "It's kinda dreary, huh?"

"Yeah. But I don't mind the weather so much, it's the change I hate. I mean, I like living with my dad and all, but…"

"Yeah, I know. You were happy were you were."

"Well, content anyway."

He nodded. Bella went on with the dishes. There was another cheer from the living room. Bella smiled and glanced at Jacob, passing him a drinking glass. "You know, I just can't get over how different you look. You're huge."

Jacob grinned. "Yeah. I work out and stuff."

Bella smiled at his childlike pride.

"You got pretty big yourself," he said. "Tall, I mean, not big."

"Thanks."

"You got real pretty too."

Bella smiled and bit her lip. "Thanks," she said again.

Jacob laughed to cover his embarrassment. "I remember when we were kids, you looked like a boy. All flat and thin."

Bella laughed too. "I was thinking the same thing about you."

"What, that I looked like a boy?"

"No, that you looked like a girl. Because you were kind of small and pretty looking and you had long hair. I used to be jealous of your hair, I remember that." She took a quick glance at his hair now, a long shiny black sheet that fell just past his shoulders. "Hell," she said, "I'm jealous of it now."

He was cringing in embarrassment, shaking his head. "Thanks," he said sarcastically. "That's exactly what a guy wants to hear. That he looks like a girl."

Bella giggled. "Sorry. But you called me a boy, so fair's fair."

By now the dishes were dried and stacked and Bella set Jacob about the kitchen to put them away, directing him from cupboard to cupboard while she wiped down the sink. Another cheer came up from the living room, and Bella turned to him smiling. "It sounds like you're missing a pretty good game."

"It's alright, I like helping" he said, closing a cupboard. "So, are you coming to watch the game with us?"

Bella was actually tempted. Not to watch the game—she hated sports—but to hang out with Jacob. But she was shy, so she shrugged and said, "Nah, I think I'm just gonna go read or something."

He grinned. "You'd rather read than watch football?"

"Yeah. I don't really understand the game anyway, it all seems pretty stupid to me."

"I could explain it to you if you want. It's actually pretty cool."

Bella shrugged again and went to make another excuse, but she saw the boyish hope in his eyes and said, "Oh alright. I guess it can't be that bad."

It was the first time she'd ever watched a football game. Charlie was sitting on the couch and Billy in his wheelchair, so Bella and Jake sat on the sofa but with a respectable distance between them. Charlie was surprised when Bella came in, but pleased too. Jacob had said he'd explain the game to her but he'd gotten shy again so Charlie and Billy did most of the explaining, pointing out the significance of the yard lines, the difference between the offence teams and the defense. They went on to add for her consideration various quotes from the NFL rule book, a tactical analysis of certain plays, a bit of umpire bashing, and all of it interspersed with gossip about the players, which ones were divorced, which ones were caught cheating, which ones used to play for which teams but were fired for various other forms of disgraceful behavior. Bella hardly grasped any of it but she smiled and nodded continually. When she expressed confusion over the execution of a buttonhook Charlie took it upon himself to demonstrate with an empty beerbottle, a charade that bent Billy and Jacob over in laughter. Bella laughed too. She thought Charlie was a bit drunk but it was good to see him having fun. She smiled, glancing around. It wasn't her ideal way to spend an evening, but she supposed it was a nice change from holing up in her room with a battered copy of Wuthering Heights.

When the game was over—Charlie's team had won—Charlie wheeled Billy out to his truck and Bella and Jacob stood on the front lawn and said goodbye. Jacob's smile was particularly radiant, and in the pale moonlight Bella realized he still did look a little girlish. He was tall and broad, sure, but he carried himself shyly, almost demurely, with his feet together and his elbows tucked. He had long eyelashes too and smooth clear skin. It was a handsome sort of girlish though, and as Bella waved to their truck as it pulled away into the street she wondered if or when she'd see him again.

Sleep came easy that night. She was up early in the morning—well, early for a Sunday—and as she sat up in her bed she realized it was quite bright in the room. She went over to the window and opened the drapes and saw with a little surprise that the sun was out. She realized it was the first time she'd seen it since moving to Forks and the thought made her smile.

Charlie was still asleep, she could hear him snoring as she passed his room. She went on to the bathroom and had a shower and then she had breakfast. While she was eating the phone rang. She looked up from her cereal bowl, as if wondering if it would ring again. It did and she quickly hopped up to answer it before it woke Charlie.

"Hello?" she half whispered into the receiver.

She suspected it would be her mother, since none of her friends had her number and Charlie didn't get many calls, but she was in for a surprise when the voice spoke up. "Bella?" it said, sounding nervous. "H-hi, it's Jacob. From last night. You know."

Bella blinked. "Oh," she said, more surprised than anything. "Hi. Um, were you calling for me or…?"

"Actually, yeah. I just wanted to talk for a while. It's not too early is it?"

"No, no, it's fine. What's up?"

By the time Charlie came down the stairs in his undershirt and sweatpants, his dark hair all disheveled, she was hanging up the phone and smiling at it vaguely. "Morning Bells," he said, with a huge yawn. "Who was that on the phone?"

Bella glanced up. "Oh, that was Jake," she said, pointing at the phone absently. "He asked me out on a date. For next weekend."

Charlie paused on the bottom step, hand on the banister. "A date?"

"A date."

"Well," Charlie said, mildly stunned. "Congratulations, I guess."

Bella followed Charlie back into the kitchen and sat down to her now soggy cereal and began to spoon it up thoughtfully. Charlie had some juice and contemplated the toaster but settled on plain bread with butter, him no gourmet. They sat together, eating in silence. Bella was in sort of a delighted dazed. She'd been flattered by Jacob's constant glancing last night, but she tried not to read into it. But now she guessed he really did like her. When Bella was done she rose and put her bowl in the sink. Charlie piped up and said he'd be going to the hardware store. Bella nodded. With a grin he asked if she wanted him to pick anything up for her, a box of nails, a Philipshead. She smiled and shook her head. She was tempted to mention a lock for her bedroom window but didn't. He asked what she was going do today and she leaned against the sink and gazed out the sunfilled window and said she might spend the day reading outside.

It was a beautiful morning, the sky a pale blue and the sun nice and bright. Bella came out the backdoor dressed in jeans and a top, no sweater, smiling at the warm sunlight on her arms. She spread a blanket on the damp grass and sat in the center with her legs tucked under her. She looked about the yard, the book in her hand resting in her lap. It was an old house in an old neighborhood and there were no fences. Out beyond the lawn Bella could see where the grass gave way to woods, a dark forest that stretched away as far as you could see. There was a dirt path that wound up though the trees and Bella could remember vaguely walking that path with her mom and dad, a five year old girl tramping along in a yellow raincoat and yellow rainboots, gazing about at the trees and the birds that flew from branch to branch, her mom pointing at the flowers, her dad telling her to watch her step, an exciting adventure.

She smiled at the memory, but it wasn't really a happy smile. Thinking about the past always bought on a strange melancholy, as if there had been something missing in her life, something that should've been there but wasn't. She always had this strange suspicion that she remembered things better than what they were. It was silly. She tried not to think about it.

Lowering her eye to the book, she trailed her fingertips over the cover. How many times had she read the exact same story? She'd literally lost count. It was her favorite book, Wuthering Heights. What she loved about it was the passion of the characters, particularly Heathcliff. There aren't many romantic males in the history of fiction who can muster up even one tenth of what he feels for Cathy, even if his feelings _are_ violent and disturbing. Sometimes she thought she'd like to meet a guy like him, but if she did she'd probably end up insane or dead like Cathy, so that wouldn't be good.

Bella opened the book at the marker but before she started reading she took another glance about. She looked back at the house over her shoulder. She could see her bedroom window and her eyes flickered over to the drainpipe beside it, a cold feeling creeping over her. But it was just a dream, just a coincidence. She looked down at the book and started reading. She almost knew the thing by heart and she read slowly and leisurely, losing herself in the story.

She lost track of time and after a while the wind picked up and a cloud blew over the sun. A shadow fell over Bella and her book and she looked up. The sky was getting grey again. She sighed and tucked some hair behind her ear. A bird shrieked from the woods. She looked over and her heart stopped to see none other than Alice Cullen standing there among the trees.

Bella froze, stunned to stupidity. The treeline was less than twenty feet away and Alice stood in the shadows, resting a hand on the treetrunk beside her, watching Bella with a strange tenderness, a forlorn fondness. Bella stared at the girl across the lawn and she was still staring when the wind picked up and blew the cloud away from the sun. A wave of warmth washed over her. Sunlight fell through the leaves above Alice and where the rays touched her skin the skin sparkled like diamonds. She looked pretty and unearthly, glittering among the trees like an elf or nymph or some other fairytale creature wandered from the woods. Bella was staring, her heart in her throat. And yet strangely unafraid. Who could fear something so beautiful?

Alice met her eyes across the yard and smiled softly. She dropped her hand from the treetrunk and moved behind it. She didn't reappear on the other side, and Bella was left to wonder if she'd even been there at all.


	5. Chapter 4: Prowler

Chapter 4: Prowler

That night Alice sat on her bed with papers strewn all about her on the bedspread. They were drawings of Bella, dozens of them, some in pencil, some in charcoal, some rudimentarily painted with watercolor, and she sat with her legs crossed right in the center of them like a spider in a web, and every now and then she'd lift one of the drawings up and sigh at it before lowering it again and sifting through the pile for another.

She lifted one of the drawings and gazed at it with her head cocked. "Bella Swan," she murmured aloud, her eyes flickering over the paper.

A million questions ran through her mind, what is her favorite color, favorite food, favorite animal, does she enjoy walks in the rain and moonlit strolls, does she favor pants or skirts and what is her shoe collection like? Alice sighed. Edward might've been able to help with some of these questions but for some reason he couldn't read her mind. He was being an ass about the whole thing anyway, so it was just as well. Alice couldn't remember that fateful biology class too good but she did remember how Bella had recoiled, and if Edward had read her mind right then…

It was Edward's suggestion—or insistence—that she take a vacation for a while, and since the others had agreed, she had no choice. For the past week she'd been in Alaska, visiting friends. Edward probably meant for her to stay away for a month or more, but even just a week was too much in her opinion. The memory of Bella's scent had driven her crazy and as soon as she had gotten back to Forks she went to Bella's house, before even seeing her family. There had been a distance between them but her scent on the wind was simply breath taking. It made her reckless, but at least she had enough sense to leave right away after Bella had seen her. And, of course, as soon as she got home Edward picked up on it. And, of course, he wasn't too happy about it. She knew he was only concerned for her and the family—and Bella as well—but Alice wished he'd just mind his own business.

Alice lowered the drawing and she was about to fetch up another when she heard a soft knock at the door.

She frowned. "Who is it?" she demanded. She thought it would be Edward with more of his pompous admonitions but it wasn't.

"It's me," came Jasper's voice.

Her frown dissolved instantly. "Come in, Jazz."

The door opened and in he came. He was wearing boots and a tancolored coat, and he was so tall he had to stoop to clear the doorframe. He stepped into the room, took one look at the drawings on the bed, and rolled his eyes. "Nothing more pathetic than a woman in love," he said.

"Funny," Alice smiled. "I don't remember you saying I was pathetic when I was in love with _you._"

He came forward, smirking. "There's a big difference between me and this Bella character."

"And what's that?"

"I loved you back."

Alice's smiled faded a bit. "She will too. In time. I've seen it."

Jasper smiled. Alice was holding one of the drawings and he took it from her gently and gave it a quick perusal. It was a portrait, Bella's face smiling sweetly, black and white save for a slash of red watercolor on her lips. Jasper smirked. "She is beautiful, though."

Alice smiled and snatched back the drawing. "Of course she is," she said, and started to pile up the papers. "So what do you want, Jazz? You didn't come up here just to admire my artwork, did you?"

"No. I came to check on you. Edward's been… worried."

Alice groaned. "I wish he'd just mind his own business."

"Hard task for a telepath."

Alice scoffed and rose from the bed. She took the pile of drawings over to the desk and put them in a drawer.

Jasper cleared his throat. "So Edward says you went to her house today."

Alice turned to him, glaring.

Jasper sat on the edge of the bed and leaned back on his palms, crossing his legs casually. "He thought it was bit dangerous, that's all. After all, you've only been back from Alaska for what? Eight hours? And the first thing you do is go sniffing around this girl's doorstep?"

Alice put her hands on her hips.

Jasper shrugged. "It just seems a bit obsessive, that's all."

"I've been waiting years to meet this girl, Jasper. _Years_. So you, and Edward, and everyone else, will have to forgive me if I let my curiosity get the better of me."

"That's fine. As long as it's only your curiosity, not your thirst."

A hurt look passed over her face. "I thought you of all people had more faith in me than that."

Sighing, Jasper rose to his feet and came forward. "Alice," he said, taking her hands. "I do have faith in you, but you're only human. In a sense. Edward may not be able to read this girl's mind but he can read yours, and if what he's been telling me is true, then it's not only possible you'll slip, but even likely—"

"No!" Alice jerked away her hands. "I'd never hurt her. She's my mate Jasper, how come no one else can see that?"

"I don't know," Jasper said, smiling at her outburst. "I suppose it's because we aren't blessed with your rather singular view of things."

"My visions—"

"Are subjective. Forget about the visions, Alice, they don't mean anything."

Alice looked away. She was almost pouting.

Jasper sighed. "Look Alice," he said. "I didn't come up here to warn you away from her, but I didn't come up here to pat you on the back tell you everything'll work out either. I only wanted to pull your head out of the clouds a little. I know that for a while now you've had some kind of romantic fantasy built up in your head about this girl, but it's time to face reality."

Alice frowned up at him.

He smiled. "As it stands now," he went on, "you're drawn to her scent, nothing more. So your first step is to simply get to know her."

Alice flared and flapped her hand animatedly. "That's exactly what I want to do! But Edward, he doesn't want me to go near her at all! He made me go to Alaska, Jasper!"

Jasper sighed. "Edward was concerned that you wouldn't be able to control yourself, and he was right. Wasn't he? You went to her house today, and I bet you were planning to go tonight too, weren't you?"

Alice didn't reply.

Jasper smiled. "She's human, Alice, and if you want to get to know her, you'll have to do it the human way. Start with interactions at school, and go from there."

"I just want to be near her, that's all."

"And why is it that?"

Alice looked away.

"Her scent," Jasper answered for her. "When you first saw her at school in the parking lot she was downwind. You couldn't smell her and you had no raging desire to be near her right then, did you? But then comes Biology, and…"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," Alice said abruptly, moving around him to sit on the bed. "I want to rest."

Jasper studied her. He sighed. "Okay, but think about what I said." He moved over to the door, opened it, and turned back. "I just want you to be happy, Alice, and I know you'll never forgive yourself if you end up hurting her. You have to be patient. If it's meant to be, it will."

Alice was looking down at the carpet. Jasper spared her one more glance and then he left, closing the door with a soft click.

When he was gone Alice laid her head on the pillow and stared up at the ceiling. Part of her knew Jasper was right, that it was Bella's scent she was drawn to and nothing else, but part of her also didn't care. Bella's scent is part of who she is, so why should Alice's craving for it be a bad thing? There was no danger as long as she could control herself. Alice sighed and rolled onto her side. For the past week there'd been literally nothing on her mind but Bella. Visions in their hundreds kept replaying through her mind, visions of chatting and shopping and lovemaking, walks in the rain, strolls in the woods under the moon. An endless reel of memories yet to come. And even though she'd only exchanged a grand total of one word with Bella in real life, she couldn't help but feel she already had a claim to the girl's heart.

How could she not?

.

When Bella woke up Monday morning she was shocked that she'd actually fallen asleep. She sat up wildly, and the first thing she did was go and check the lock on the window. It was still locked, and there were still little flakes of paint and wood shavings on the carpet from where Charlie had screwed it in yesterday. He'd gotten home about lunch time and found Bella sitting rigidly on the sofa with a baseball bat in her lap, freshly freaked out from Alice's little visit. He'd just come from the hardware store but Bella sent him right back again, to get some kind of lock for her window. At first she wouldn't explain why she needed it but then she got a little hysteric and said she'd seen something suspicious in the woods out back. She didn't say what it was, and Charlie had pestered her about it for a while but soon gave up, seeing that Bella was getting upset.

Even with the lock, she was listening all night for the window. She did a lot of thinking that night, and she seriously began to doubt her sanity. It was just too ridiculous. First the dream, then the biology incident, and now this. Vampires didn't even go out in the day, anyway. And they sure as hell didn't sparkle in the sun. The only reasonable explanation for any of it was that she was going crazy.

And the worst thing was that there was nothing she could do about any of it. If Alice really was some kind of vampire stalker chick, what could she possibly do to defend herself? Sign up for a kung fu class and sharpen a broomstick? Rally a mob of townsfolk and march over to her house with torches and pitchforks? And if she was going crazy, there was nothing she could do about that either. That's the nature of losing your mind: it just happens.

That morning Bella stood at the window for a long time, staring out at the spot where she'd seen Alice standing yesterday. She decided that there was only one thing she could do, and that was to just keep living her life and pretend nothing's wrong. That would be the best way to ward off dementia. And if Alice really was a demonic vampire that craved her blood, well…

"Shit happens," Bella murmured. What was she clinging too, anyway?

That morning she drove to school in a state of vague apathy. For some reason she was strangely certain that today would be the day Alice returned to class and as she pulled up in the parking lot she saw that her speculation was correct. Alice and the tall guy, Jasper was his name if she remembered correctly, were standing by the silver Volvo. None of the other Cullen's were with them, yet they seemed to be waiting for someone.

Their eyes swung to Bella's truck as she pulled up, and then they looked away again. Bella watched them out the windshield for a moment, and then she grabbed her bookbag, opened the door, and got out.

As she crossed the lot, she looked over. Alice was trying not to look at her but she did and their eyes met. Bella went on and pushed through the double glassdoors of the front office and disappeared. Alice watched her go and sighed. "She didn't look very happy to see me, did she?" she asked Jasper, still staring after Bella.

Jasper rolled his eyes. "She probably thinks you're a stalker, Alice, if not something worse. You're lucky she doesn't call the police."

Alice sighed again.

When Bella met up with Angela and Jessica outside homeroom, they started talking about their weekends. Bella had actually forgot about her date with Jacob until she mentioned it, and of course her new friends were interested. Angela wanted to know if he was cute. Jessica wanted to know what car he drives. Classes started and Bella sat through them without really listening to the teachers or paying attention to the work. She'd glance at the clock or out the window. She was waiting for biology, and that floaty feeling in her stomach was back. Not quite fear, but not quite anything else.

It was only as she went down the corridor toward the biology lab that she started to feel anxious. She paused at the door, remembering last week, remembering Alice's black eyes, the way she'd lunged at her. Bella took a deep breath. She opened the door and walked in and as she did Alice looked up from the desk and smiled. It was a friendly smile, but Bella looked away all the same. She hung her jacket and then she went to go take her seat.

Alice was visibly affected by her approach. She looked… nervous. A brittle smile about her lips, eyes darting about. When Bella was close enough she took a quick breath to steel herself and then she turned to her lab partner with a bright and friendly smile and said: "Hi."

Bella paused. "Hi."

They looked at each other for a moment. It was just a second but it felt longer. Then Bella quietly sat on the stool beside Alice and placed her books down on the desk. She avoided looking at Alice but she knew Alice was looking at her. Finally Alice spoke. "Oh um," she began, "I never did introduce myself last week, did I? My name's Alice. Alice Cullen"

She held out her hand. Bella blinked at it. It was small and pale and delicate looking, the fingers long and elegant, the nails clean and polished. A very pretty hand. She took it and was a little startled at how cold it was. Like ice cold.

"I'm Bella," she said, pulling back her hand.

Alice looked a little disappointed that Bella let go so quick, but then she fixed a smile onto her pretty face and said, "Actually, I've been meaning to apologize."

Bella frowned. "For what?"

"For being absent so long. I know it was your first week, and I feel really terrible for not being here to help you out. You know, since I'm your lab partner and all…"

Bella shrugged. "It's okay, don't worry about it."

Alice smiled. "Still," she said. "I wish I'd been here."

Bella didn't reply. She flashed a weak smile in a vague attempt at politeness and turned away. Alice frowned but didn't say anything.

By now the teacher had arrived and soon the class was begun. Bella and Alice worked together quietly, only speaking as required, never raising their voices above a murmur. Bella tried to avoid looking at Alice at all, preferring to glance at the clock so she'd know the exact minute she could leave, but even so, she wasn't unaware of how Alice's breathing had quickened, or how her eyes had darkened from amber to honey, and how she kept glancing at her. It made her uncomfortable in more ways than one, and all she wanted was to get out of here and go back to pretending there was nothing odd about her life at all.

Alice glanced at Bella and saw her bent over her notebook, her hair draped in a long dark curtain. She was so beautiful, up close like this, so much more beautiful than the drawings. Alice watched her for the entire lesson, discreetly but avidly. Watching her scribble in her notebook and glance up at the teacher. Watching her bend to the microscope and blink into the lens, tucking her long hair behind her ear with her hand. She was just so… beautiful. Alice's heart hadn't beat since the day she was turned, but she swore she could feel it stirring now. Every time she glanced at Bella, every time she breathed in…

And then the class was over. People started to stand and Alice looked about, as if confused what everyone was doing. Bella stood up in a hurry and began to gather up her books. Alice rose too, and Bella saw her knees wobble slightly, as if she were dizzy. She turned to leave when Alice spoke up. "Oh um, Bella?"

Bella turned back. "What?"

"I, uh…" Alice shook her head briefly. She looked faint. "I was just wondering. Since I was absent for so long, do you think maybe I could copy your notes some time?"

Bella looked away, frowning darkly.

Alice forced a smile. "I thought since we're lab partners…"

"Can't you copy Edward's notes?" Bella snapped. "Why do you need mine?"

Alice's smile slowly drained.

Bella felt a brief stab of regret for being so rude, but then she remembered those black eyes and that horrible dream, and she harden her expression into a glare and said, "Just stay away from me, Alice. Just stay away."

And without waiting for an answer, she turned and left.

Alice watched her go. Everybody was filing out, but Alice just stood there. Edward had watched Bella go too and then he went over to Alice. He looked her over. "You okay, Alice?"

Alice was frowning. She pointed vaguely at where Bella had gone. "What the hell's her problem? How could she possibly hate me so much?"

"You let her see you at her house for one thing."

"Yeah, but wouldn't she just assume she was seeing things? If she actually thought I was there, wouldn't she say something?"

Edward shook his head. "It's not only that."

Alice looked at him. "What is it then?"

Edward sighed. "I don't think she's the sort of girl who enjoys the attention of other girls."

"Was I staring that hard?"

Edward nodded.

Alice sighed. "I'm so disappointed. I thought…"

She trailed off. Edward watched her for a moment. He was reading her thoughts. "Listen, Alice, I know you don't want to hear this but perhaps her resentment is a good thing. Perhaps it's best to end it before it begins, so to speak."

Alice looked at him. "You still doubt me, Edward?"

"Yes," Edward said, but not unkindly. "I do. I can hear what you're contemplating and I don't need to be able to see the future to know it'll end badly."

"You don't know everything."

"Alice, I'm trying to be reasonable here. There's a risk in pursuing any kind of relationship with a human, and while it is true that we love you enough to take that risk, there is something we ask for in return for our understanding. And that is for you to be careful. That's all."

Alice scoffed. "Careful."

"Yes, careful. Besides, isn't persistence the surest way to a woman's heart?"

"No," Alice said, her voice hardening. "The surest way to a woman's heart is through her ribcage. And I'm not done with her yet, Edward. I'm not done with her at all."

.

Bella pulled up outside her house and killed the engine. She sat there staring at the steering wheel. She had a headache from the stress of the day and she was suddenly feeling very depressed. She wanted to go back to Phoenix. She might not have had any friends there, but at least it was normal.

After a while she got out the truck and crossed the lawn, looking over her shoulders as almost a reflex. The other houses on the street were silent and barren, she seemed to be the only living person in the neighborhood. There was a tricycle in one driveway but it was knocked on it side and it looked like it hadn't been ridden in long time. Even her own house looked uninhabited, the white paint peeling, the blinds all drawn. Bella paused and looked around. It was cold and windy and her hair was blowing about her face. She looked up at the sky. The clouds were dark and grey and as she glanced up thunder cracked somewhere in the distance, and suddenly Bella laughed. At first it was just a snort but it grew into loud guffaws, standing in the middle of the yard in the cold and the wind, clutching her stomach and laughing. She sounded hysteric even to her own ears and she tried to stop but she couldn't. What was she even laughing about?

Finally she got herself under control and hurried to the front door. She felt the first spits of rain on her head. She opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind her. She locked it. The she went around to the backdoor and checked that it was locked too. She went and checked all the windows, moving from room to room with the vigilance of a secret service agent. The upstairs ones had no locks but when Bella tried to open them she found that they were glued shut. She smiled at that. If she knew Charlie was going to do that, she would've just had her own glued too.

When she was satisfied the house was secure, she went into the kitchen and spread out her homework on the kitchen table. Her head was still throbbing and she hadn't been sitting there more than ten minutes before she got up and went to the bathroom to take some aspirin. She shook two out from the bottle onto her palm and stood looking at them. Then she tipped out another. She took the three aspirin, cupping up the water with her hands, and then she went back down to the kitchen.

By the time Charlie got home the rain was pretty bad. He came in grinning and flapping his jacket about like some enormous khakicolored bird. He saw Bella studying and started asking her about her day but she didn't have much to say and soon she was cooking and then they were eating. She ate quietly, without much of an appetite. She looked distracted. Like something was on her mind. After dinner he helped her out with the dishes and then he went to watch TV. Bella went up to her room but she didn't want to be alone so she took her book downstairs and sat with Charlie. The TV was distracting and so was Charlie's periodic chortles, but Bella didn't care. She didn't really feel like reading much, anyway.

She stayed up past the sitcoms and past the dramas and past the late movie until finally Charlie said she'd better get to bed. Even he was yawning. She said goodnight and went up the stairs. She changed her clothes and brushed her teeth. The light in her room was still on from when she fetched her book. She paused with her hand on the switch and scanned the room. Then she flipped it off and went to bed.

Outside Alice stood in the dark and the rain, leaning against one of the trees with the water dripping through the leaves and running down her face, her clothes soaked and stuck to her skin. She'd been watching the yellow rectangle of light that was Bella's window and she saw it go black. She tilted her head, watching. She waited for Bella to sleep.

Bella lay in her bed on her side. She rolled over. She was listening for the window but it had been rattling in the wind all night. She lay there thinking about her life. She wondered what the words were to a Hail Mary.

Alice started toward the house, moving across the rain soaked lawn in a quick and liquid dash. The wind howled in the trees and thunder cracked. She took hold of the drainpipe beside the window and began her ascent.

Bella could hear the wind and the thunder. She was almost asleep. She heard the window rattle forcefully and thought it was just the wind. Then she heard the sound of splintering wood and she knew it wasn't. Her blood went cold and her heart came to a complete stop. She heard the window scrape open. She heard the rain and the wind gust into her room. She didn't dare open her eyes.

Alice lifted the window and the lock with it. She stepped a leg over the windowsill and climbed in. She stood there dripping onto the carpet with the drapes flapping in the wind behind her. Lightning struck and threw her shadow across the wall and the bed where Bella slept, large and vague and menacing. She turned and closed the window.

Bella held her breath. She was rigid and trembling beneath the covers. She lay there listening and she could hear a quiet breathing. Then a footstep. A creaking under the carpet.

Alice came forward and knelt at Bella's bedside. She gazed at that pale face and saw clearly the strain about the eyes. She smiled and leaned forward and sniffed at the luxurious blueblack waves of hair tumbled about the pillow. Her head swam. She opened her eyes and reached out with a pale hand and touched Bella's cheek with the backs of her knuckles.

Bella didn't move. It took every fiber of her being not to scream at that cold touch. She lay like a fawn playing dead. Then Alice spoke. "Bella," she whispered. "Bella?"

Alice tilted her head and watched the rapid movement behind Bella's eyelids. Like something squirming to get out. She leaned forward, she spoke softly. "Can you hear me, Bella? It's me, Alice. If you can hear me, don't worry. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I love you. I love you so much…"

Bella was crying from terror, the tears leaking silently from her closed eyes and trailing down her face to dampen the pillow, and yet she still would not move. Alice wiped one of those tears away with the ball of her thumb and put the thumb in her mouth. Then she rose to her feet silent as a ghost and stepped back.

Bella heard the window open and the wind gust and then she heard the window close again. She lay listening but there were no sounds other than the wind and the thunder outside. She lay frozen beneath the covers for a long time. Then finally a little strangled sob escaped her throat and she reared up wildly tossing the covers aside and she jumped from her bed and scrambled for the lightswitch. When the light came on she was standing there with both hands at the switch, her chest heaving. The carpet was wet by the window and the lock was broken and splintered. Bella's lip trembled. She started crying.

And outside in the rain and the wind Alice yet lurked about Bella's window. She smiled when the light came on. Then she turned and sauntered away into the woods.


	6. Chapter 5: Tomorrow

**AN: Just so you know, Alice **_**has**_** turned out much creepier than I originally intended. In my original idea, James and Victoria were going to be the villains with Alice strictly in a romantic hero role, but once I started writing I decided to use her as the pseudo-villain and try and play up the vampire aspect of her character. I thought it would be more original. And yes, this story is a romance and it is a Bella/Alice. A couple chapters back I made a reference to Wuthering Heights, and if you've ever read that then you'll know what kind of romance I'm aiming for. It's not light and fluffy, it's dark and borderline psychotic, so if that's not your kind of thing, you might want to read something else. And, above all, I'm not trying to pass off Alice as some kind of romantic ideal, like Edward was in the original novels. In this story I want Bella to fall in love with Alice for what she is: a dangerous and obsessive vampire stalker.**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks again to everyone who reviewed.**

Chapter 5: Tomorrow

It was only as Alice was walking home when she started to have misgivings about her little nocturnal adventure. Time, distance, and the smell of the rain had washed away the intoxicating effects of Bella's scent and she was honestly surprised that she went so far. She couldn't remember exactly what she did, but she knew she had broken a lock—which meant physical evidence of her presence—and she'd spoken. She didn't remember what she said though. And Bella, Bella hadn't actually been asleep. She'd been scared. Really scared.

Alice walked along in the center of the road, with her head down and the rain dripping from her chin and nose. As she came around the bend she looked up and saw the house in the middle distance, a large modern looking mansion cited on a rise just above the road. There were no other houses for miles and only woods behind it. The porch light was on creating an inviting atmosphere, but Alice wasn't sure she wanted to go in. Edward was going to be furious.

The front door wasn't locked. Alice paused under the awing to shake herself off and then she went inside. She found the guys in the living room, Edward, Jasper, and Emmett, all lined up on the sofa. Emmett and Jasper were playing splitscreen Halo, each with a controller twisting in their hands. Emmett was on the edge of his seat leaning forward excitedly, while Jasper was calming lounging back. Only Edward noticed her, turning to look over the backrest of the sofa. She knew what she was thinking about but she couldn't help it.

"Oh no you don't," Emmett was saying, smirking mischievously. "You ain't gonna kill me little Jazzy boy. Goddamn camper. Come here, you little bastard, I'll show you how a real man fights."

Edward's brows slowly drew together as he read Alice's thoughts. "Alice…"

Emmett shot a glance over his shoulder. "Ally! Hey, come watch this! I'm about to—"

Suddenly an explosion rocked the screen.

"Aw fuck!" Emmett wailed. He whirled on Jasper who was chuckling quietly to himself. "You cheater!" he screamed. "You fucking cheater! You motherfucking—" Then he whirled on Alice. "It's your fault, Alice! You distracted me! Standing there like a wet idiot. Goddamn it, this is bullshit."

Edward rose to his feet and moved around the sofa. He hadn't taken his eyes off Alice, and Alice hadn't taken hers from him.

Jasper was watching them curiously, but Emmett was busy mashing buttons on his controller. "Rematch," he muttered. "Rematch by god, I'll show you how to throw a goddamn sticky."

"What did you do?" Edward asked slowly, advancing on her.

Alice set her chin. "It's none of your—"

Suddenly Edward sprung forward. Before she could react, he grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her roughly against the wall and pinned her there. "What did you do?" he repeated menacingly.

"Whoa, whoa," Emmett said, rising to his feet. Jasper rose too and they both came forward. Emmett grinned uneasily. "Jeez what'd you do, Alice? Steal his hair gel?"

"Let her go, Edward," Jasper said. He projected waves of calm at both of them but it didn't seem to do anything.

"She went to her house," Edward said, glaring at Alice.

Emmett grinned. "Knew it. You owe me twenty bucks, Jazz."

Jasper ignored him. "Let her go, Edward."

But Edward wouldn't do it. "You crossed the line, Alice. No you didn't cross it, you took a flying fucking leap over it."

Alice glared back. "It's none of your business, Edward."

"Is she dead?"

"No!"

Emmett held up his hands. "Okay, time-out ladies. Let's all just take a deep breath. I love a catfight as much as the next guy, but Edward ain't a girl and—"

Esme had been in the kitchen practicing her cooking, but now she came wandering into the living room. She was already talking as she came around the corner. "Will you boys keep it down in there, I can hardly hear myself think—" Then she saw bootprints on the floor. "Alice!" she cried, suddenly aghast. "You've tracked mud all over my nice clean carpets!"

She didn't seem alarmed that Edward had her pinned to the wall, assuming it had something to do with the video game perhaps. Such sibling squabbles being commonplace in the Cullen household.

"Er, we got a situation here, Esme," Emmett said, tossing his chin at Edward.

Esme looked at Alice and shook her head disapprovingly. "I just hope you haven't been sitting on the sofa in those wet clothes young lady, and where on earth have you been?"

"She was at Bella's house," Edward said, deathly calm. He still hadn't taken his eyes from Alice's, and he was still combing her thoughts. "After all the warnings, after all her promises to be careful, she went and literally broke into her house."

Esme finally realized the gravity of the situation. She looked between Edward and Alice. "Oh…"

Jasper put a hand on Edward's arm. "Let her go, Edward. I mean it."

"No, I'm not letting her go until she tells us exactly what happened. What did you do, Alice? Is she dead? Did you hurt her? If you hurt her—"

"Edward!"

All heads turned to the voice. It was Carlisle, standing by the doorway with a severe expression on his usually gentle face. "Unhand Alice this instant."

Edward frowned, but he did as he was told. He let her go and stepped back, still glaring.

Jasper glanced at him, then he stepped forward and touched Alice's shoulder. "You okay, Alice?"

Alice nodded demurely, feeling guilty for his concern, like she didn't deserve it.

Carlisle came forward, his expression softening. "Now," he said. "Will someone tell me what this is all about?"

No one spoke. Edward had the grace to look mildly ashamed of manhandling a woman, and Alice looked down at the floor. Emmett stood to the side with his hands in his pockets, looking big and awkward, like a child among arguing adults. Esme shared a look with her husband. Carlisle looked at Edward. "Edward? What's this all about?"

"She went to Bella's house," Edward said. "She broke the lock on her window and as if that wasn't damning enough, she went and told her who she is. After all that, it would almost be better if she did actually kill her."

"I told you," Alice said in a low voice. "I'd never hurt her."

Edward snorted. "Who are you kidding, Alice? You _have_ hurt her. Not physically, but that doesn't make her pain any less real."

Alice looked down.

Carlisle regarded her for a moment. "Come with me, Alice," he said gently. "We'll talk in my office."

Alice looked at him and nodded. She wouldn't look at Edward but she glanced at Jasper and he gave her an encouraging smile. She tried to smile back and then she left the room with Carlisle.

Silence in the living room. They looked at one another. Rosalie had been showering while all this was going on, but now she came strutting onto the scene with an air of annoyance, wearing nothing but a towel and a frown. She came in and stood on a cocked hip with her arms crossed. "Okay," she said in a fed up voice. "What the hell's all the yelling about?"

"Er…" Emmett stared at her legs. "What?"

Carlisle opened the door to his office and led Alice in. He closed the door behind them. Inside the furniture was rosewood and mahogany, the walls lined with bookcases, the shelves lined with books of every variety; fiction and nonfiction, books of medicine and law, leatherbound first editions, Shakespeare folios. The fireplace was lit and other than the warm gentle light of the flames there was just the lamp on the desk.

"Sit down, Alice," he said.

Alice sat. Carlisle went around his desk and sat behind it. In the orange light of the fire Alice's face looked very sad.

"Are you angry with me, Carlisle?" she asked in a small voice.

"I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt," Carlisle said. "I'm sure you have some kind of explanation."

Alice looked up. She shook her head. "That's just it. I don't."

Carlisle watched her.

"It's her scent," Alice said. "It makes me… crazy. At first I just wanted to stand underneath her window. I thought that would be enough, but… it just wasn't. I couldn't smell her and I wanted to smell her."

Alice looked down.

"Go on," Carlisle said.

Alice sighed. "I climbed up to her window… I was only going to look in, but that just made it worse. It was maddening to know she was so close but so far away. I tried the window and I could tell it was locked but I couldn't stop myself. I could hear the lock breaking but I… I needed to get inside. I had no impulse to hurt her, but I needed to be close to her."

Carlisle nodded. Alice went on.

"She must've woken at the noise I was making, but she gave no sign. I could tell she was awake by her eyes. She was so scared, but I couldn't help myself. I smelled her hair and touched her face. I started talking but I don't remember what I said. Edward said I told her who I was, and I think I did but I'm not sure. I don't know why she never moved. Maybe she thought I'd lash out if I knew I was caught. I left almost right away. I'd only been there for maybe a minute but I could feel the thirst overpowering me and I didn't want to hurt her. I just…"

"Wanted to be near her," Carlisle finished for her.

Alice nodded sadly, but then she shook her head even more miserably. "No, that's a lie. I did want to hurt her, because she hurt me. In biology. She was just so… mean. I had such fantasies about how it would be and she ruined them. She just…"

"Alice," Carlisle said sternly. "Even in your frazzled state you must realize that Bella cannot be held accountable for your delusions."

Alice looked down and buried her face in her hands. "I know, I know," she said in a strangled voice. "I haven't been thinking clearly. I can't think clearly at all when I'm around her. I'm so sorry, Carlisle."

Carlisle regarded her. He had no doubt that she'd be in tears if she were able to cry. "I'm not angry with you, Alice," he said, "but I won't say I'm not disappointed. I thought you had better restraint than this."

"I did," Alice said. "Until I met her."

Carlisle sighed. He looked off at the mantle where there was a framed picture of each member of his family. He looked at Alice. "How do you think she'll react?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know. Edward can't read her mind, and when I'm around her I can't even think properly."

"And your visions?"

"Still erratic." Alice opened her mouth and closed it again. Then she decided she better just tell Carlisle everything. "While I was walking home, I had a vision of going to her house again tomorrow. But this time I knock on the door. She doesn't let me in, though."

Carlisle chuckled silently. "I can hardly blame her."

Alice smiled sadly. "I don't think she'll be at school tomorrow, but I don't think she's going to tell anyone about me. Maybe she'll tell her dad someone broke in but… I don't think she'll mention me. I think she's too scared."

"How much exactly does she know about you?"

Alice shrugged. "I don't know. She's seen me sparkle in the sun, and she knows I'm strong enough to break a lock. She might think I'm an alien or something."

Carlisle nodded. "Then your identity has been compromised. Which likely means ours are as well." He sighed, his brows drew together. "Do you realize how dangerous this is, Alice? If the Volturi had any inkling of our reckless you've been…"

"I'm sorry Carlisle," Alice said. "If you and the others want to leave town, I understand. I'll take sole responsibility over whatever happens with Bella."

Carlisle studied her. Alice met his eyes.

"But I can't go with you," she said softy. "The week I spent in Alaska almost made me insane, or maybe it did. But I can't leave again. It's impossible. After being in her room, after tasting her tears…" She shook her head. She was almost speaking to herself. "I'm too emboldened now," she said. "One way or another… I have to have her."

.

Tuesday morning saw Bella slumped in the corner of the sofa, the TV droning quietly in the background. The light in the living room was off and it was still dark outside but the storm had passed. After Alice's departure last night she hadn't been brave enough to go back to bed. She hadn't been brave enough to do anything. She had stood agonizing outside the door to Charlie's room for at least half an hour, trying to work up the courage to wake him, but in the end she just couldn't do it. What would she tell him anyway? That she'd been visited by a vampire in the night? They'd have her in a padded cell quicker than she could say Dracula.

So she'd snatched the blanket from her bed and bought it down to the sofa. She'd fallen asleep with it wrapped around her, her face pinched and troubled in the flickering light of the TV. She'd only fallen asleep about half an hour ago but it was a light sleep. Upstairs the shower turned on and Bella woke with a jolt. She'd been clutching a clove of garlic under the blanket and as her eyes snapped open she dropped it and it tumbled to the ground and rolled to the side. She sat up, listening. When she realized it was the shower she relaxed a little but not fully. She rubbed her eyes. She was still really tired and she wasn't sure that she'd even slept at all. It felt like she'd only blinked.

She looked over her shoulder toward the stairs. Her eyes were lidded and her head sluggish. She sighed and pressed her palms to her eyes. Maybe it was all a nightmare. Maybe she hadn't even woke up from when she first fell asleep that night.

When Charlie shuffled his way into the kitchen, dressed in his uniform, Bella was sitting at the table with her blanket around her shoulders and a mug of coffee in both hands. Charlie smiled confusedly. "Hey Bells. Up a little early aren't you?"

Bella shrugged. Her voice was soft, far away. "Couldn't sleep."

Charlie nodded and went over to the refrigerator, watching her as he went. Her face was deathly pale and there were dark circles under her eyes. She was staring down into the mug, and there was a haunted look to her, sitting there cowled under her blanket like a frightened little girl. "You okay, Bells?"

Bella shook her head. "No. I don't think so."

Charlie got the milk out the refrigerator and a drinking glass from a cupboard and poured himself a glass. He hadn't taken his eyes off her. "What's the matter?"

"I just don't feel well. I'm okay."

Charlie leaned back on the counter, sipping his milk. "Do you have a fever?"

"I'm fine, Charlie. Dad, I mean."

"You don't look okay." Charlie put his glass on the table and felt her forehead with the back of his hand. She recoiled slightly. He frowned worriedly. "You know, you do feel a little warm. Maybe you ought to go back to bed, Bells. I'll call the school, tell em you're not feeling so hot."

"Dad," she said, glancing up at him with tear filled eyes. "I want to go home. Back to Phoenix."

Charlie looked surprised. "Home?"

Bella didn't answer, she just stared down at the table.

Charlie's brows drew together. "Did your mom call last night? Did something happen to her?"

"No," Bella said, shaking her head. "I just want to go home. I can't stay here."

He looked at her, blinking. He looked over at the stove as if it were in some way to blame and then he looked back at her. "Well what's the matter, Bells?"

"Nothing," she said in a wobbly voice. "I just don't want to stay here anymore."

At the break in her voice Charlie came forward quickly. "Bells," he said, kneeling down beside her chair. "What's the matter? What's wrong?"

Bella shook her head and blinked back tears. "Nothing. It's okay. Forget about it."

"Bella. Bella, look at me."

Bella looked at him. Two tears trailed down her cheeks.

"What's wrong, Bells?" Charlie asked gently. "Tell me what's the matter."

Bella sniffed. She looked at him but there were no words for her anguish. "It's nothing," she said, wiping at her face with her hands. "Forget it."

By the time Charlie had to leave for work she had him convinced it was just a bad dream that had her so freaked. He didn't seem too convinced but he didn't want to upset her further with more questions. He tried to make her go back to bed but she didn't want to go anywhere near her room. The most she'd do was lay down on the sofa with the TV on but she wouldn't sleep either. She'd blink slowly, her mind curiously blank. Behind her she could hear her dad on the phone calling the school. Even to them he sounded concerned. He told them he'd be taking her to a doctor as soon as he got home from work, but after he hung up he knelt by Bella's side and asked if she wanted him to stay home and make her some soup. She smiled and shook her head. She said she'd be alright.

He didn't look pleased, but she could see he was going to drop it. For now, anyway. Still kneeing there, he stroked her hair for a moment and watched her anxiously. Then he put a hand on the armrest and went to stand up, but his eyes landed on the clove of garlic on the floor beside the sofa. He frowned at it. He picked it up. Bella looked at it vacantly but she didn't say anything. Charlie glanced at Bella and gave a little chuckle. "I wonder how long that's been there," he mumbled, already rising to put it in the kitchen. When he came back he bent and kissed Bella on the forehead.

"Call me at the station if you need anything," he said. "Okay, Bells? Anything at all."

"Okay, dad."

"Okay. Feel better, alright?"

"Yeah."

He nodded. He kissed her again and then he stood and looked at her with those same anxious eyes. He couldn't remember ever seeing her so pale. Finally he nodded again and left. She heard the front door open and close and she heard the cruiser start and pull away. When she was sure he was gone, she staggered to her feet and trudged over to the door to check it was locked. She knew Charlie would've locked it but she wanted to make sure. She checked the door chain too, and then she turned and leaned back against it, pulling the blanket around her shoulders. She was tired and vaguely annoyed that she was. If it was a movie she'd be wide awake, but for some reason all she wanted to do was sleep. She half didn't care if she never woke again. Dismissing her thoughts, she gave a shaky sigh and went and checked the back door. It was locked too, but then she realized it didn't matter. Locks wouldn't keep Alice out if she came to visit, anyway.

Finally she went back to the sofa and sat down. The TV screen was blurry. It was the early news and in the windows she could see a dull grey light. She was only wearing shorts and a tanktop and even with the blanket she was cold. She realized she really did feel like she had a fever.

She watched the news, but it wasn't that interesting. A woman stabbed to death by her husband, an unusual fluctuation in the stock market. She thought maybe in a couple day she'd be in the news herself. She could imagine the headline. Local teen found dead, suspected vampire attack. She smiled tiredly, imagining Alice's picture on the TV and a grizzled newscaster reciting in monotone: In a press conference earlier today, local Forks police released this picture of the girl sought in connection with the slaying; she is known only as Alice Cullen. Citizens should be on the lookout for any young girls seen sparkling in the sun, but under no circumstances should they attempt to apprehend her themselves. She is considered unarmed and extremely hungry, and if convicted of the charge of Vampirism laid against her Miss Cullen will face a penalty of death via staking. In other news…

Bella was almost asleep again. She was pitching over sideways, her eyes closing, but then she reared up and slapped herself. She looked around the living room. What was she staying awake for anyway? This wasn't a Freddy Kruger movie. And what was she going to do tomorrow? Biology should be fun. "Jesus," she said, pressing her palm into her forehead. "I'm dead. I am so dead."

After a while she got up and went into the kitchen and made some coffee. Charlie had thrown the clove of garlic in the bin but Bella fetched it back out, giving it a quick dusting with a tissue. She wasn't going to eat it anyway. She sat at the table and held the mug, thinking things over. She decided she might as well try and defend herself. She never had much flair for violence, but what she what else was she gonna do? She could go check Charlie's room and see if he had a spare gun. It might not kill a vampire but it always slowed them down. In the movies at least. She could sharpen a piece of wood as well, a broomstick or something. To use as a stake. That shouldn't be so hard. And she already had garlic. She had some rings made out of silver too, maybe she could use them like those knuckle duster things. A couple good hits with some silver rings might do the trick. Or at least stun her. She could do some research on the internet too. See if there's some secret trick to vampire slaying. There might be a crucifix in the house too. Or she could make one with a couple of wooden spoons. What else, what else…

Bella stared down into the coffee mug. She snorted and shook her head. Who was she kidding? How do you defend yourself against someone who tears through locks? Besides, if she was immune to sunlight, who knows what other vampire clichés she was immune to as well. And who says she's a vampire anyway? There's no proof. That sparkling in the sun could've been some prototype makeup from Paris or something, it wasn't necessarily supernatural. And as for the window, who knows? Maybe she used a crowbar or something.

But the eyes, they were black. And the smelling, the hissing, the staring.

Bella sighed and rubbed her face. God she was tired. How long had she been up? She looked at the clock on the wall and frowned a little. Twenty-seven hours. That wasn't that long really. How come it felt longer? Bella sighed again and looked out the kitchen window. It was brighter now. Daytime. Yeah, well. The sun ain't going to stop Alice, is it?

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Bella froze, going cold all over. It couldn't be, could it? She let go of the mug and grabbed the garlic. She sat absolutely still. Then the knock came again, soft but insistent. Bella frowned and rose to her feet, pulling her blanket around her shoulders. She crept quietly out into the hallway and looked at the front door. She inched toward it.

The knock came again. "Bella?" came Alice's voice from the other side. "Bella? Are you there?"

Bella's mouth dropped open. She stared at the door.

"Bella," came Alice's voice. "It's me Alice. Can you open the door? I want to talk to you."

There was a phone on the endtable. Bella looked at it and considered calling 911 but what would she tell them? Help, please, there's a girl at my door. She might be a vampire.

Alice knocked again. "Bella," she said. "Please open up. I just want to talk to you, that's all."

Bella frowned at the door, her heart pounding in her chest.

"Open the door, Bella," Alice said, her voice lower now, almost menacing. "You and I both know a lock isn't going to keep me out if I want to come in."

Bella didn't move. She just stood there, clutching the garlic. She saw a shadow pass by the glazed window mounted in the door and she thought Alice was going away. She listened. There were no more knocks and Alice didn't speak again. She let her body relax a little, but then she remembered her window and went rigid all over again. She didn't want to believe it but she had to check. She went creeping up the stairs, careful not to creak the floorboards. She inched down the hallway toward her room, vampire-like herself with the blanket around her shoulders like a cape. At the door to her room she paused. It was closed. She took the knob in her hand and turned it slowly and pushed the door open just a crack. She peered into her room and the first thing she saw was Alice climbing in through the window.

Bella froze.

Alice spied her through the crack, cocked her head, and smiled. "Hi," she said.

Bella turned and ran, the blanket slipping from her shoulders and falling to the floor. She ran down the corridor and dashed down the stairs. She grabbed up the receiver to the phone and dialed 911.

Upstairs, Alice sighed and came sauntering out into the hallway. She looked at where Bella had gone and sighed again. The blanket Bella had wrapped around herself lay at her feet. Alice bent and picked it up, and then she lifted it to her face and inhaled. When she lowered it again her eyes were black.

Bella listened to the phone ring, sniffing and wiping her eyes. Finally someone answered. Bella spoke before they did. "Yes, hello? There's someone in my house. They broke in and I don't—"

Suddenly Alice was at her side. She took the receiver from Bella's ear and placed it back in the cradle. "I told you I only want to talk," she said softly.

Bella stumbled backward. Then she remembered the garlic in her hand. She had passed it to her left hand in order to dial and now she passed it back to her right. She reared back like a baseball pitcher and threw it right at Alice's face. It made a dull thump off her forehead and thumped again on the carpet. Alice didn't seem all that fazed. She looked down at the garlic with a little frown. She picked it up and looked it as if she didn't know what it was. She looked at Bella and her expression was very curious. "Why'd you throw garlic at me?"

But Bella didn't answer. She turned and ran again. She had in mind to exit out the front door—in her shorts and tanktop, her hair all a mess—and she almost did. But by the time she'd fumbled with the lock and undid the chain, Alice was behind her. Bella managed to get the door open a crack but then Alice reached past her and pushed it shut. "I just want to talk to you, Bella."

Bella backed away down the corridor. She turned and ran toward the kitchen, slipping on the tiles as she went. She was going for the backdoor but before she could even grasp the doorknob, Alice appeared right in front of it. She appeared instantly and without warning, as if out of thin air. Bella recoiled to avoid running into her and fell back on her butt.

Alice watched her gently. "Bella…"

Bella staggered to her feet and tottered backwards. She rifled the cupboard closest to hand and came up with a skillet. She turned to Alice holding it by the handle with both hands like some bloated shortsword. "Stay away from me," she said. She sniffed. "I mean it. Just leave now and I won't call the police."

Alice shook her head and sauntered forward. "Oh Bella. You're doing it again. I came here with such lovely fantasies of hope and reconciliation, and here you are waving a fryingpan in my face. What did I ever do to earn such dread?"

It was a stupid question and Bella didn't answer it. She stood there straddle legged, backing up slowly as Alice crept forward.

Alice had Bella's blanket in one hand and the clove of garlic in the other. She held up the garlic. "Why did you throw this at me?" she asked.

Bella didn't answer. She was almost backed into the corner.

Alice cocked her head. "Do you think I'm a vampire?"

Bella shivered at the word. "Aren't you?"

Alice smiled and stepped forward. Bella stepped backward and bumped into the counter. There was nowhere left to run.

"Stay away from me," Bella said.

Alice placed the garlic on the countertop and the blanket on the table. She turned to Bella and stepped forward slowly. She smiled and held out a hand as if to calm a skittish animal. She spoke softly. "You don't have to be afraid, Bella. It's okay. I told you I'd never hurt you, didn't I?"

"Get back."

"It's okay. Shh. Don't be afraid."

"I said get back."

"It's okay. Come here. Let me touch you."

Bella swung the frying pan. Alice caught her hands and wrenched the skillet from her grip. It fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Bella backed into the stove, trembling. Alice was still holding both her wrists and she passed them behind Bella's back into the same hand and then she reached with her free hand and touched Bella's cheek. The hand was freezing and Alice was standing so close Bella could feel her breasts pressing against hers.

"Bella," Alice whispered. "Bella, look at me."

Bella was looking away wildly. Alice's hand went behind Bella's neck and caressed it. She lifted her face to Bella's. "Bella," she whispered. Bella could feel her breath on her lips. "Bella. Look at me, Bella."

Bella tore her watery eyes from the floor. She looked at Alice and what she saw was very sobering to her. Alice's eyes were pitch black but Bella couldn't see any evil in them. Only… hunger.

Alice smiled, pleased to have her attention. "That's better. Now… Why do you think I'm a vampire?"

Bella didn't answer.

"Tell me."

Bella swallowed. Her throat was dry. "I had a dream." she said. "You were in it and you bit my neck."

Alice regarded her. "That's all?"

"I had it before I met you. And I knew your name. Before I met you."

Alice smiled. "A precognitive dream. Interesting. Well, not entirely precognitive. After all… I haven't bit you yet, have I?"

Bella didn't answer. They gazed into each others eyes, huddled there in the corner of the kitchen. Alice was still gripping Bella's wrists and her other hand was still caressing her neck. As the silence stretched, her eyes seemed to blacken further. She stared at Bella's face with an expression of utter longing. She leaned to Bella's lips as if to kiss her but recoiled at the last moment. She sighed softly and then she leaned her nose into the crook of Bella's neck and inhaled deeply. Bella just stood there, gasping for breath and staring out the window. Her heart was pounding in her chest but it wasn't just fear anymore. She could feel Alice's breasts pressed against hers, she could her hands, one hand gripping her tight, the other caressing so gentle. She could feel Alice nuzzling her neck. A strange excitement was dancing in her stomach and perhaps it was the terror or the adrenaline or even the sleep deprivation, but whatever it was the feeling was as exquisite as it was frightening.

In that moment she thought she was going to die. She thought Alice was going to bite her right there. But she didn't. She breathed in and out and then she took one last breath and tore herself away. She turned Bella loose and rushed over to the sink and turned both taps full blast. She stood over the sink inhaling deeply.

Bella watched her, rubbing her wrists. The impulse to run had failed her. She didn't believe she was safe but she felt resigned. Like she didn't even care. Alice saw her watching and smiled. "The smell of the water," she said. "It has a purifying effect."

Bella frowned. "Are you…" she said. "Are you really a vampire?"

Alice snorted. She cupped water in her hands and splashed her face. She turned off the taps. "I drink blood," she said. "Call it what you will."

Bella nodded and suddenly she was tired. As her head bobbed it almost didn't come up again. All her energy seemed zapped in an instant. She leaned on the counter and sighed. "So what now?" she asked. "Are you going to kill me?"

Alice dried her hands with a nearby dishtowel. "No," she said. "I didn't come here to hurt you, Bella."

"So why did you come here?"

"There's a million reasons," Alice said, tossing aside the dishtowel. She turned to Bella. "But first and foremost, I came because… I just can't stay away from you, Bella. I literally can't do it. I need to be near you."

Bella didn't reply.

"It's your scent," Alice went on. "I'm... addicted to it."

Bella sighed and looked away. The light in the window was bright and she wondered if the sun was out. "Oh," she said.

"I'm really sorry, Bella. For everything. I never meant to hurt you..."

"It's alright."

"It's your scent. It makes me wild."

"Forget about it. It doesn't matter."

Alice studied her. Bella was staring down at the floor and she looked like nothing much was on her mind at all. Her face was as white as paper and her eyes were dark and sunken. Alice sighed and then she took up Bella's blanket from the kitchen table. She came toward Bella and Bella looked up without much expression. Alice took her arm. "Come on," she said. "We can talk some other time. You need to get some sleep."

Bella didn't put up a fight. Alice led her up the stairs by the arm, neither of them speaking. She pushed open the door to Bella's bedroom and ushered her in. Bella stood watching as Alice made up the bed for her, tucking the sheets and blankets, fluffing the pillow. Then Alice came around and smiled and took Bella's arm and moved her gently to the bedside. Bella got into the bed and Alice pulled the covers up to her chin and smoothed her hair on the pillow. She knelt down at Bella's bedside and Bella lay on her side blinking at her.

Alice smiled and brushed some hair from Bella's forehead. "I know you have no reason on earth to trust me, Bella. But I want you to know that I don't hunt humans. I hunt animals. I'm not… I'm not a monster."

Bella didn't reply.

Alice smiled. As she spoke she played with Bella's hair. "I wasn't lying when I said I loved you, Bella. I really did mean it. I know we hardly know each other, but that doesn't matter to me. They say it's your scent that I'm attracted too. Your scent and nothing more. They say that it's not real love, but I know the truth. Your sent isn't nothing, it's _everything._ Your blood, it sings to me. Do you see? It isn't lust or admiration or promise of security that draws me to you Bella, but hunger. And what more certain symptom of affinity could there be? When the heart and mind are bypassed and instinct itself becomes the sole factor of desire, the conclusions are quiet clear. Even if you were the most despicable person on earth, I'd love you just the same as if your were the loveliest. For love is love and I know what I know. That to an ardent heart even the most frivolous fancy becomes true love. And I do love you, Bella Swan. I love you so much…"

Then suddenly Alice leaned forward and pressed her lips to Bella's. Bella's eyes fell shut. When Alice pulled back they opened again.

"I'll leave for now, Bella, but I'll see you again tomorrow. You have no idea how difficult it is for me to leave you, but I will. And tomorrow… Tomorrow I'll see you again."

Alice rose and moved away. Bella closed her eyes. She heard the window open and then close again. After a while she fell asleep.

.

When Charlie got home he popped up stairs and poked his head through Bella's door. He could see her in the bed and hear her breathing quietly. His face wore a worried look, and after watching her sleep for a moment, he closed the door and went downstairs.

She wasn't up in time for dinner so Charlie got pizza. He was eating in the living room when Bella came wandering down the stairs, still in her bed clothes, her hair all ruffled. Charlie was off the couch in an instant. "Bells," he said. "How're you feeling? You feeling better?"

"Yeah," she said, holding her head. "A bit of a headache, though."

"You want some aspirin?"

"Yeah, but I can go get—"

"No, no, you wait right there. I'll be back in a second."

Charlie hurried away. Bella sighed and looked around. There was a game show on the TV. When Charlie came back he had a glass of water and two aspirin. "Here you go, Bells."

"Thanks, dad." She took the two aspirin and drank the water.

"So you're feeling better?"

"Mm."

"Good. Well. That's a relief, huh? You had me worried. Must've been one of those twelve hour virus's or something. Or food poisoning maybe."

"Maybe."

"So you hungry? I got pizza. It's in the kitchen. I'll go get it, you go and sit down—"

"I have to get changed."

"Well, you go get changed and I'll go heat the pizza. Okay?"

"Okay."

"And you're sure you're feeling better?"

Bella smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'm alright."

They ate the pizza in the living room, watching TV. Bella looked preoccupied, staring at the screen without really seeing it. Charlie kept glancing at her. He didn't mention her little breakdown in the morning and Bella didn't bring it up either.

When Charlie said he was going to bed, Bella said she would too. She wasn't sure she'd sleep but she did. She slept right until her alarm went off and in the morning she showered and dressed and had breakfast. There was a note on the fridge from Charlie saying to call him if she needs anything. Outside it was cold and windy. Bella stood on the porch with her backpack slung over her shoulder, and breathed in the cool morning air. Then she shrugged up the pack and crossed the lawn to her truck.

Alice was waiting for her in the parking lot. She and Jasper, standing by their Volvo. Bella pulled up and killed the engine and watched them through the windshield. Then she grabbed her backpack off the seat beside her and got out the truck, closing the door behind her.

As Bella was crossing the lot she noticed Alice was wearing a flower in her hair. As if that might get Bella's attention. Bella went on and paused with her hand on the bar handle of the double glassdoors of the front office. She looked over her shoulder at Alice. Alice waved tentatively, a shy wriggling of her fingers. Bella looked down. She looked up at her reflection in the glass door and then she looked over at Alice. She lifted a hand to wave back and Alice lit up with a bright smile that made Bella believe for a moment that the vampire really did love her. Then she turned away and pushed open the door and disappeared inside.


	7. Chapter 6: Date

Chapter 6: The date

The next few days weren't so bad. Bella went to school and came home again, and as far as she could tell Alice hadn't been in her house at all since the last time. She was done being afraid too. There was still some fear, sure, but the terror was gone. She didn't believe for a second that she was safe. She believed that Alice was either toying with her like a cat with a mouse or, if her claim of not wanting to hurt her was sincere, that she might simply slip anyway. But she was resigned. By now it was pretty obvious that she wasn't going to lift a hand to save herself, and so all she could do was wait. Whatever happens, happens. She was done stressing over it.

Wednesday afternoon she spread her homework on the kitchen table but lost interest in it almost instantly. Since Alice's latest visit she'd been thinking of nothing else, wondering how it would happen, when. Sometimes she'd idly devise little plans to protect herself, but they only existed in her mind. She didn't think she'd be able to defend herself even if she wanted. Alice was too strong, too quick. Too dangerous.

Bella sat there at the table, tapping her pen against the notebook. She looked over at the stove, where Alice had her pinned and helpless only yesterday. She could of done it right there, but didn't. And not because she was toying with her either, Alice had literally struggled to pull away. As if she really did care. Bella sighed and looked away. She sat there in the kitchen for a while and then she went wandering up into her room, leaving her homework on the table. She started going through her things, looking for stuff that she didn't want Charlie to find in case she died. It was morbid, and she wished she'd turn her energies to something that might actually preserve her life, but there was nothing else to do. And with a touch of sadness, she realized that there wasn't even that much in the room that identified it as hers. No posters on the walls, no wallpaper on the computer. Everything just blank.

In the end she threw out some of her old notebooks that had some doodles in them and deleted some stuff off her hard drive and that was it. So much for her legacy. Maybe she should write a will too. And to my father Charlie Swan I bequeath my mp3 player. Take care of it.

Bella closed the door shaking her head and went back down stairs.

Thursday afternoon, Jacob called. Bella was happy to hear from him, and they spoke for about an hour. It was a rare moment of normalcy for her these days, and sort of a special moment too since she'd never actually spoken like this to a boy who liked her before. They talked about the weather and a movie they'd seen and then they started talking about the date. Jake was so nervous he actually asked her if she still wanted to go and when she said of course she did his relief was palpable. He got a bit chatty after that and went on to say how much he was looking forward to it. Bella said she was excited too. He admitted shyly that it would be his first date and she admitted the same. They were still talking when Charlie got home and by then they'd arrived at a decent date plan for Saturday afternoon.

And that night she lay awake in her bed, wondering if tonight was the night Alice would creep through her window and cancel it all. At school she'd sit at her usual table in the cafeteria and glance over at her. Alice always smiled when their eyes met. They'd pass each other in the halls from time to time, and Alice would smile then too, and in the parking lot in the morning. Always smiling, but not a happy smile. A sad one, as if she were lamenting that smiling was all she could do when really she wanted to run over and hug her to death. Literally. In biology they would sit side by side and whisper through their assignments. Alice would try her in conversation on several subjects and she was trying so hard to be charming that as the days passed she even made Bella smile a time or two.

There was an uneasy peace between them, a captor-hostage dependence. Alice was actually pretty cool when she wasn't breaking and entering and under other circumstances Bella would love a friend like her. But Alice didn't want to be just friends, and Bella didn't like girls. She wondered how the vampire would react if she knew she was going on a date. She decided not to mention it. Then again maybe it would be smart to set some boundaries. Or at least try to.

Friday afternoon, Biology last period. The bell rang and Bella stood up, gathering her books.

Alice also rose to her feet. "So," she said. "Do you have any plans for the weekend, Bella?"

Bella looked at her. "Um yeah. Actually, I do."

Alice seemed to be waiting for her to elaborate. She smiled. "Well, what are you doing?"

Bella floundered. "Nothing really, I just…"

"I only mentioned it," Alice went on, "because I thought maybe we could hang out. I was thinking we could go shopping. What do you think?"

Bella glanced at where the other kids were filing out. Edward was waiting at the door for Alice, watching them like a prison warden. Bella looked at Alice. She saw the same hope in her eyes that she'd seen in Jake's and she started speaking without even realizing what she was saying. "Um, maybe. I don't know. Just give me your number. I'll call you, okay?"

Alice smiled brightly. "Okay!" she giggled. "Here, give me your hand." Alice took Bella's hand and wrote her cell phone number on Bella's palm. Bella swallowed. Her hand was so cold. "Make sure you put it in your speed dial, okay?" Alice was saying. "Don't go forgetting and washing your hands. And make sure you call me. Okay?"

"Yeah."

Alice drew back and smiled. "Can I get your number too?"

Bella shook her head. "I don't have a cell phone."

"No cell phone?"

"Nope."

"Why Bella, a young lady's equipage just isn't complete without a cell phone."

"Yeah, well…"

"Can I get your home phone number then?"

Bella sighed. "Alright. Gimme the pen."

Alice gave her the pen and Bella wrote it on her hand. She felt weird holding her hand like this and once again she was struck by what a pretty hand it was. And so cold. There were butterflies in her stomach and she wished they'd go away.

"There," Bella said, handing back the pen.

Alice giggled, gazing down at the number on her palm as if it were a scented loveletter or something. She smiled at Bella. "Will you call me tonight?"

"Um, I don't know."

"Can I call _you_ tonight?"

"Um, well. If you want to."

"Okay. And can we hang out tomorrow?"

"Not tomorrow."

"Why not?"

"I uh… have a date."

Alice had been smiling. Now the smile started draining. "A date?" she said. "What date?"

Bella shrugged awkwardly. They were alone in the classroom by now, even the teacher had left. She glanced at Edward. He had been looking at his wristwatch impatiently but now he looked up with interest. Bella turned back to Alice. "You know," she said. "A date."

A fierce frown crossed Alice's face, and even then she looked like she was concealing the greater part of her jealousy. "With who?"

"It's no one, it's just some guy."

"Yes, I assumed it's a guy. What's his name?"

"Does it matter?"

Alice glared at her. She was practically pouting. Finally she shook her head. "You know what?" she said. "Fine. I don't even care." Her books were still on the desk, and now she turned to them and started gathering them up roughly, slamming them about, making a big show of her displeasure. "You date whoever you want, Bella," she spat. "It doesn't mean anything to me. Doesn't mean anything at all."

That said, she tucked her books under her arm and pushed past Bella without even looking at her. She hurried across the classroom and out the door, past Edward without looking at him either. Edward smirked and glanced at Bella. He made a little shrugging motion as if to apologize. Bella smiled awkwardly and then he turned and followed Alice.

.

It was a tight fit in that little silver Volvo, but the five Cullens squeezed in easy enough. Rosalie was the mechanic of the family—a sexy blonde mechanic, her no cliché—and the driver too. She ferried them to school and back home again, sitting in the driver's seat with her hands two and ten, tearing down the road with the trees whizzing by on either side. That afternoon there was a tense silence in the car. Alice was the reason. She sat in the back, in the middle between Jasper and Emmett. She sat with her arms crossed, staring balefully out the windows. Everyone kept glancing at her. No one knew what the matter was except for Edward who sat smirking in the front seat, listening to her thoughts as if they were talk radio.

"Hey, Al," Emmett said. "What's up, you look sad."

"It's nothing," Alice muttered.

Edward smirked. "Bella's got a date."

"Hey," Emmett grinned, shaking Alice by the shoulder. "That's great, congratulations."

"Not with Alice, you idiot."

"Oh."

Jasper chuckled to himself.

Alice glared at him.

"Sorry," Jasper said, shaking his head.

Rosalie rolled her eyes. Alice saw it in the rearview. "And don't you roll your eyes at me, Rosalie. Bella's just a little confused right now, but she'll see I'm the one for her eventually."

"Maybe you're the one confused," Rosalie said dryly.

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"She's not gay, Alice. What do you think I mean?"

Alice snorted and looked away.

"Let me give you a hint," Rosalie said. "You want to find your soulmate? Look to your left."

Jasper was sitting on Alice's left. He smiled and shook his head.

"None of you understand," Alice said. "Not even Carlisle…"

No one replied to that. They rode in silence and then Edward said: "Don't even think about it, Alice."

Alice glared at the back of his chair.

Edward gazed lazily out the window. "Don't even think about it," he repeated.

Emmett was getting excited. "What? What's she thinking about?"

"Crashing Bella's date."

"Don't you dare, Alice," Rosalie said, glaring in the rearview. "Let the girl live her life, for god's sake."

Alice clenched her teeth. She didn't answer.

Edward shook his head sadly. "You're lucky to even be on speaking terms with the girl after all you've done to her, Alice. Just leave her alone."

"Fuck that," Alice said. "Bella's mine. And fuck anybody who says otherwise."

.

Jacob had been looking forward to this date for a lot longer than the past couple days. Ever since his dad said Charlie said that his daughter was coming back to town, he'd been eager to meet her. Even though he was younger he still remembered her from back then. He hadn't been one of the popular kids either, but Bella had always been nice to him. Jacob had two older sisters who were both sort of mean to him but in a nice way. They were typical big sisters, speaking down to him, teasing him about girls. Or boys. Because he wore his hair long they'd always call him gay, especially when they weren't playing around anymore but really wanted to be mean. He hated that.

But Bella, Bella had never said anything mean to him as far as he could remember. He didn't think she ever had much fun on those fishing trips but she never complained. They were always thrown together by the adults, Bella and Jacob, because of their similar ages. Jacob wasn't so shy back then—that came in highschool—and he always wished she'd been his big sister instead. This was back before either of them had any interest in the opposite sex. Jacob used to follow around her everywhere, and just generally act like a lapdog, and now he wondered how much she remembered from back then. He himself remembered everything.

Then his dad mentioned one night how Bella Swan—you remember her, don't you Jake?—would be coming to live with her dad in Forks. Jacob had been to Charlie's house a lot of times with his dad to watch football games and stuff like that and he'd seen the pictures on the walls. Pictures of Bella as she grew up, school pictures mostly. And even before it was announced that Bella would be coming home he'd been caught staring at them like an idiot. Maybe it was because he'd had such bad luck with the girls on his side of town, but Bella had always been his dream girl. And yet even after she arrived, he was hesitant to go see her. His hopes were too high. He kept telling himself that she probably wouldn't remember him and even if she did she probably wouldn't want to even talk to him anymore. He thought she'd be like the pretty girls at school, the ones who either ignored him or sneered at him. And if there was one thing he hated about girl's it was the way they sneer. The way they looked at you as if you were dirt. Jacob had been punched in the face once after school by a bully, but even that didn't hurt anywhere near as much as a pretty girl's sneer.

But Bella had surprised him. She was even nicer than he remembered and a million times more pretty than her picture. He was smitten in an instant and he knew he was taking a chance by calling her the next day, but he also knew that if he didn't do it then he'd never do it, so he did it and it paid off.

And now here he was rifling through this closet early Saturday morning trying to figure out what to wear. He'd bought a bottle of Old Spice for the occasion and after he'd showered he doused himself with it generously. Then he thought she might think he was trying too hard so he jumped back into the shower and washed it all off. He ended up settling on bodyspray. Then came the dilemma of clothes. He tried on two pairs of jeans and four shirts. He only had two jackets and he tried on both of them as well, running back and forth between his room and the bathroom to check the mirror. Times like these he felt lucky not to be a girl. At least he didn't have too worry about makeup and shit like that.

By the time Sam arrived Jacob was sitting on the edge of his bed with three pairs of boots spread on the ground at his feet, trying to determine which pair would best compliment his outfit. Sam knocked on the door and opened it a bit. "Jake? You in here?"

"Sam, hey," Jake said, surprised but happy. Sam Uley was his best friend, which was strange since Sam was at least four years older than him. The Uley's and the Black's had been family friends for generations, but it was in highschool when Jake first met Sam. He'd been getting bullied by a pack of assholes one morning and Sam just happened to be passing. He must've recognized Jacob as a Black because he stepped in. He was a senior at the time, and huge. Six foot, two hundred pounds. He'd told the bullies to leave Jake alone and the bullies slank away truculently like rats before a wolf. They'd knocked Jake's books to the ground and Sam had picked them up and handed them back. They didn't become friends overnight, and even now there were still whole weeks when they never saw each other, but Jacob had a very deep respect for Sam and admired him greatly.

"What are you doing here?" Jake asked.

Sam stepped in. He looked at the boots on the ground and he looked at the pile of shirts on the bed. "Just came by to say good luck. Today's the big date, right?"

"How'd you know?"

"Your dad told me."

"Oh. Yeah, I've just been getting ready."

"I can see," he said with a smirk, eyeing the shirts, the boots. "You're worse than Emily."

Jacob blushed and quickly grabbed up the shirts and threw them heedlessly on the floor of his closet and closed the door.

Sam tossed his chin at the boots. "Wear the brown ones," he said. "Black's too common."

Jacob didn't question Sam's judgment. He quickly sat down and pulled on the brown boots.

"And what's with the ponytail?"

Jacob blinked and reached behind his head. "What, no good?"

"Terrible."

"But it's windy out. I don't want my hair blowing everywhere."

Sam shook his head. Jacob pulled out the hair tie.

By the time Jake was ready it was almost time to go. Sam walked him to the front door and then walked him out to his truck. They stood there in the wind, Jacob's hair blowing everywhere. "I told you I should've worn the ponytail."

Sam grinned. "Don't worry about it. The blowing hair's good. You look like a model."

"It's gonna get all tangled."

"Get in the truck, Jake, you're embarrassing yourself."

Jake got in the truck and put his seat belt on. Sam held open the door and leaned in to speak to him.

"Alright," he said. "I know you don't have an older brother so I'm gonna give you some advice. First of all, don't let her pay for anything. If she starts talking about buying a yacht, you better be offering to put the down payment on it. And when you see her, make sure you remember to tell her she's pretty. Don't forget. And don't tell her over and over either, just once is enough. Other than that, just try and be yourself, alright? Don't lie or exaggerate anything, because it'll just bite you in the ass later on. If she doesn't like you for what you are, then that that's her problem. You hear?"

Jacob smiled awkwardly. "It's just a first date, Sam, I'm not getting married."

"The first one's the most important. Don't forget that."

Jacob shrugged. "Okay."

Sam regarded him. He nodded. "Alright then." He stood and closed the door. Jacob turned the key and the engine roared to life. Sam leaned to the opened window. "One more thing."

"Yeah?"

Sam smirked. "Watch out for the palefaces. You hear?"

Jacob rolled his eyes. The palefaces were an old Quileute legend about vampires that lived in Forks, and as if that wasn't stupid enough the vampires actually had a name: Cullen. "I will," Jake said. "See you later, Sam."

.

Bella didn't wear anything special for the date, mainly because she didn't own anything special. She didn't own any makeup either but she did wash her face. She had some scented shampoo too that Charlie had bought for her because he saw it on sale and thought she might like it. She washed her hair with that, but that was the extent of her beauty regimen.

While she waited for Jake she stood looking out the window for Alice. She could see the trees out there, the branches whipping in the wind. She remembered how jealous Alice had been and half wondered if she would make a scene today. Or something worse. She didn't think she would though. Alice never called on Friday so Bella thought she must be pretty upset. Besides, while Alice seemed to have no scruples against scaring the hell out of Bella herself, when it came to strangers she was surprisingly discreet. They all were, those Cullens. Bella wondered if they were all vampires. They all had pale skin and yellow eyes. They were all kinda creepy. How come no one else has ever suspected anything?

She was in the middle of these musings when she heard the knock on the front door. There'd been no sign of Alice out the window, and suddenly she wondered if it was Alice at the door. It wouldn't be the first time she came knocking.

"Bells!" Charlie called from downstairs. "Jake's here! Didn't you hear the door?"

Bella took a deep breath. Before starting toward the door, she took another quick glance out the window and froze.

Alice was out there.

Bella pulled back the curtains and looked more closely. It really was Alice, standing there half hiding behind one of the twisting trees, gazing up at Bella's window. Bella watched her. She looked sad, angry, hurt, and above all desperate. Bella looked away. She glanced back once more and then she shut the curtains and turned away.

She went downstairs and as she came out into the hallway she could see Charlie and Jake standing by the door. They'd been talking in low mutters but they stopped when Bella appeared. "Hey Bells," Charlie said, motioning at Jake awkwardly. "Jake's here."

Bella gave him a vague smile. "Hi, Jake."

Jake nodded, smiling nervously. "Hey," he said. He was dressed in baggy blue jeans and a creamcolored t-shirt and his long black hair was tucked behind his ears. He looked pretty cute, but Bella was to distracted to notice. "So, er. You ready to go?"

"Um..." Bella frowned. She knew she should cancel, but she couldn't. She was just so tired of worrying. "Sure," she said, trying not to frown.

"Great," Jake smiled. "Let's go then."

Bella nodded and turned to Charlie. "See you, dad."

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, well. You kids have fun. But not too much fun. You hear?"

Charlie opened the door and wind gusted in. They crossed the lawn quickly, hunched over with their jackets flapping behind them, their hair whipping about their faces. Bella eyes cut about for Alice but there was nothing. Jake opened the passenger side door for her. She slid inside. "Thanks," she muttered.

"What?"

"Thanks!"

"Oh!"

Jake slammed shut the door. Bella sat there, glancing around through the windshield for any sign of Alice. The wind gusted when he opened the door and ceased when he got in and closed it. "Whew," he said, flattening down his hair with his hands, tucking it behind his ears. "It's a bit windy out there, huh?"

Bella nodded. "Yeah." Her own hair had been ravaged somewhat, and now she reached behind her head and pulled out the hair tie and then she smoothed it all back with her hands and put the hair tie back on. She flicked out the ponytail prettily and glanced at Jake and saw he was staring.

"Oh, uh," he said, jolting out of his reverie. "I guess we'd better get going, huh?"

Bella frowned. "I guess."

Jake started the engine and pulled away. Bella looked anxiously out her window and as they started down the street she glanced back at the house. She could see her bedroom window and it was with a jolt in her heart that she saw that Alice was inside her room, standing at the window with one hand holding back the curtain, a lonely figure gazing out at the truck that was pulling away as if she'd been left behind.

They rode in silence to begin with. Bella was frowning deeply. She was worried for Charlie, but she didn't think Alice would hurt him. She prayed she wouldn't. But what could Bella do? Demand Jacob take her back right now? Was she going to protect her own father? Her police chief father? She could call him, but what would she tell him? Dad, there's a vampire in the house. Better go hide under the bed.

Jake kept glancing at her and after a few minutes he cleared his throat and said: "You okay, Bella? You look a bit…"

He didn't say what she looked a bit like. Bella forced a smile. "I'm okay."

He nodded. "Oh, and by the way… You uh… you look pretty today."

Bella glanced at him. "Oh. Thanks."

"Yeah. Just saying…"

Bella nodded and turned to look out of the window. The sidewalk was lined with trees and the leaves were twisting in the wind. The streets were empty. She shook her head and turned to Jake. "So, what movie are we gonna see?"

"Well, uh. I don't know. I figured I'd let you choose."

"Why?"

"I don't know. You're the girl."

"I'm the girl," Bella repeated absently. She looked out the window. There was a bus stop on the corner up ahead and as they got closer Bella could see a small figure sitting on the bench. It was Alice. Bella met her eyes as they passed and kept watching as they went by.

"You sure you're okay, Bella?"

Bella turned in her seat to watch Alice disappear behind them. "Yeah," she said. "Just a headache."

Jake nodded. "So, um… did you have anything in mind?"

"Huh?"

"A movie," Jake said. "To go see."

"Oh…"

There was only one McDonalds in Forks and this was where they went for lunch. The place was almost empty and by the time they got there it was raining. They parked in the lot and ran through the rain and shook off inside. Jake went to order at the counter and Bella took a seat at a booth. She was facing the big wallwindows that overlooked the street and while she waited for Jake she stared outside. Watching the trees writhe in the wind, watching people duck through the rain to their cars in the parking lot with their jackets pulled over their heads. She lifted her eyes and saw the grey sky stretching away as far as she could see, the grey clouds rolling darkly. She sighed. There was a small playground out there for little kids and when Bella lowered her eyes to it she saw Alice sitting on the swingset, rocking back and forth. Soaking wet, her short wet hair whipping in the wind. Rocking gently, clutching the chains with both hands like prison bars. Watching Bella through the rainswept window with that scary mix of anger and sadness and desperation. Bella met her eyes. Something stirred in her chest, pity or guilt or something altogether unknown. She didn't know what it was, but it moved her to a sympathetic smile. It was just a subtle twitch of her lips, but Alice saw it. Alice saw it and smiled hopefully, but then Jake came with the tray and she darkened instantly.

Jake saw the girl sitting out there in the wind and the rain and he gave Bella a funny look. "Jeez," he said. "What a weirdo, huh?"

"Yeah," Bella said. She wasn't smiling anymore.

Jake set down the tray and then he sat down himself. He had his back to the window and Bella glanced past him at Alice, but Alice had rose to her feet and now she went wandering away into the rain.

While they ate they talked. Bella tried to make an effort to be friendly but she was too distracted. Twice during lunch he asked her if she was feeling okay. She said it was just a headache. He nodded. Reluctantly, he asked her if she wanted him to take her home. He didn't make her feel guilty about it either, he said they could go to the movies some other time when she was feeling better and the weather was better, but Bella only shook her head. She said she wanted to go, but honestly she had no idea what she wanted. Or what Alice was going to do.

After they ate they dashed through the rain back to the truck. By now the roads were wet and slick and it was hard to see. Jake sat frowning behind the wheel, peering out the blurry windshield. He'd only just learnt to drive a couple months ago and he was nervous even in good weather. Bella sat back silently, letting him concentrate. She turned her face to the window but the rain was coming so thick and fast she could barely see out of it. All she could see was her own pale reflection in the glazed over glass, and even to her own eyes she looked like there was something greatly wrong with her. She looked like a girl beset with a woe for which there was no remedy nor reprieve. And so she was.

"These windshield wipers aren't the best," Jake was saying. Then he tossed her a quick grin. "But don't worry, I'll get you home safely."

Bella smiled faintly. Jake turned back to the windshield and Bella just sat there, watching the wipers go swish swish swish…

When they got to the theater they jumped out the car and ducked under the awing. They went among the posters like art buyers at an auction. Jake kept pointing out various romantic comedies but in truth Bella wasn't a fan. She was very critical of romance as a genre and unless it was Jane Austin or Shakespeare, she wasn't interested. In the end they picked out a horror movie. Jacob had mentioned it as a joke but Bella smiled and said why not. It was about a psycho highschool girl, and she was in a masochistic mood.

At the ticket booth Jake paid for both tickets. Bella thought he might but she'd bought her wallet anyway and offered to pay for hers. Jacob wouldn't hear of it. "Forget about it, Bella," he grinned. "I've seen dates on TV and never once have I seen a girl pay for a movie ticket."

Bella thought about that. She supposed he had a point. Jake handed the money across to the ticket woman and Bella stood back, glancing around the lobby for Alice.

Jake ended up buying the popcorn too, and they entered the theater just as the lights were dimming. It was half empty, and Bella took a seat right next to the middle aisle. Jake sat beside her and put the popcorn between them. It was dark and the previews had started. "So you sure you wanna see this one?" Jake asked her. "It's supposed to be really scary."

Bella smiled. She felt sick in the stomach from the bad feeling inside her and in the bluish light of the theater screen she looked ghostly pale. "I don't scare easy," she said.

The movie started after the previews, and like most movies of it's kind it opened with a murder. Jake stared at the screen, munching on the popcorn. Bella stared at the screen too, but she wasn't eating popcorn and she wasn't really watching either. She kept glancing around for Alice but there was no sign of her. She turned her eyes back to the screen and that's when she felt it. A breath on the back of her head. Bella froze. There was someone in the seat behind her leaning forward and breathing on her hair. Slowly she turned in her seat and looked over her shoulder.

It was Alice in the seat behind her. Sitting there in the flickering light of the movie, black eyed and smiling. Something fiendish about her, a horror movie villain herself. Bella looked at her, her heart pounding. She met Alice's eyes and looked away and looked back again. She looked at Jake. In the movie light he looked cute and innocent, chewing on his popcorn. She turned back to Alice. She met the vampire's eyes once more. Then she turned back to the screen. After a couple seconds she rose and told Jacob she had to use the bathroom.

She went down the aisle without looking back. She went out past the concession stand and pushed open the door to the ladies room and went in. It was empty. She quickly dropped to her knees to check for feet beneath the stall doors, then she stood and went over to one of the basins and looked into the mirror. She was waiting for Alice and she didn't have to wait long.

She heard the door open and someone come in. "Boy," Alice said. "That movie sucks. You wanna go see something else? My treat?"

Bella turned to look at her. "That's it? You've been stalking me all day, and that's all you have to say for yourself?"

Alice came forward slowly. "I haven't been stalking you, Bella. I was just… watching."

"Whatever. Why can't you just leave me alone?"

"Because. I can't."

Bella shook her head and crossed her arms. She was frowning and her eyes were shiny from frustration.

Alice came forward, her expression softening. When she was close enough she reached out and touched Bella's shoulder. She looked at Bella's face for a reaction and Bella glared at her with watery eyes. "Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" she said. "I don't even care anymore."

Alice sighed and shook her head. "I don't want to hurt you, Bella."

"Yes you do."

Alice's eyes flickered up to Bella's. They were black. "Maybe I do," she said softly, her other hand moving to Bella's waist. "But I'm not going to. I promise."

"I don't believe you."

"Oh Bella," Alice said, pulling Bella toward her. She buried her nose in the crook of Bella's neck and breathed in. "How can you be so cruel to me? Don't you know how much I love you?"

Bella shivered in disgust. She pushed Alice away roughly. "You're just a freak," she said, backing away from her touch.

Alice sighed and came forward slowly. "Things would be so much easier, Bella… if you'd simply accept your situation."

Bella frowned darkly. "I have. I told you to go ahead and kill me."

"You know that's not what I mean."

Alice was close now and she reached out with her hand. Bella backed against the tiled wall, her heart pounding. "If you touch me I'll scream."

Alice smiled. The hand came down softly and gently on Bella's shoulder and Bella didn't make a sound. Alice gazed at her face for a moment and then she placed the other hand at Bella's waist. She stepped onto her toes and leaned to Bella's ear. "What's the matter, Bella? I thought you were going to scream? Don't you want to anymore?"

Bella averted her face, tears welling in her eyes. She was backed against the cold tiles and she could feel Alice's cold body pressed against hers. She was breathing deep and fast.

"Poor Bella," Alice said, nuzzling her neck. "You don't want it to feel good but it does, doesn't it? The body has a mind of its own, after all. It doesn't care if I'm a girl or a vampire or a creepy little stalker. Do you think I don't know, Bella? I can feel your temperature rise. I can hear your heart beat. I can smell your pheromones…"

Alice's cold lips brushed Bella's cheek. Bella whimpered and turned away her face. "Stop it," she said, squirming against Alice's grip.

But Alice wouldn't stop. The hand at Bella's waist found it's way up Bella's top and caressed the skin there. Cold fingers tingling across her stomach. Alice kissed Bella's neck. "Do you really want me to stop, Bella? Do you? Tell me. What is it that disgusts you so? Am I not attractive? Is my touch not gentle? Tell me, Bella. What's wrong?"

Bella's breath was coming in hitching gasps. She was light headed and her skin felt like it was on fire. Alice was kissing her neck and Bella lifted her chin as if to keep her lips as far away from Alice's as possible but all she did was allow Alice better access to her throat. "Stop it," Bella whimpered. "Please." Alice's tongue licked out across Bella's throat. Bella gasped.

"No," Alice murmured. "For days now I've contented myself with gazing at you across the cafeteria and exchanging pleasantries in biology class, but it's not enough. I _need_ you, Bella. Don't you understand?"

It was too much and suddenly Bella turned her face into Alice's so that their lips met. It was an impulse, a need for release. Their mouths met and Alice's lips were smooth and soft and at their touch Bella's eyes fell shut breathlessly. There was disgust at kissing a girl but beyond that there was something far more intense. Alice's hand was in her hair and Alice's tongue darted into her mouth and she pushed Bella back into the wall and pressed her body into Bella's, her breasts into Bella's, and Bella moaned into her mouth and held her at the waist loosely and she felt herself being swept away by a passion that was dark and scary and all consuming.

The kiss lasted only a few moments and when Bella pulled away it was because she couldn't breathe. She tore her lips from Alice's and stood leaning against her, breathing in quick hiccupy gasps. She was almost hyperventilating. She squeezed her eyes shut. She could feel Alice's chest heaving against hers. She could smell her hair.

Alice went to hug her, and the movement was enough to break Bella out of her daze. She made a sobbing sound and pushed the other girl away and hurried to the bathroom door. She tore it open and dashed out without glancing back, letting it swing shut behind her.

.

She didn't see Alice again for the rest of the afternoon. She went back into the theater, wiping her eyes as she went. She took her seat next to Jake wordlessly and Jake leaned to her and started whispering about what she'd missed.

The rain had slacked by the time the movie was over. Jake asked if Bella wanted to see another movie or do something else but Bella demurred. She mentioned a headache. Jake was disappointed but he said he'd drive her home. On the way he tried talking to her about the movie but she had little to say. She kept watch out the windows but she never saw Alice. When Jake pulled up outside Bella's house it was still daylight and still raining a little. They sat there in silence for a moment, neither knowing what to do. Bella had been preoccupied and depressed most of the day and Jake was confused and disappointed. She was like a totally different girl from last week.

"Well, here we are," Jake said, trying to sound casual. "Do you want me to walk you to the door?"

"It's alright, it's still raining."

Jake nodded. Bella looked at him and saw the disappointment in his face.

"Listen, Jake," she said. "I'm sorry I wasn't such good company today. I haven't been feeling well lately and…"

Jake smiled and shook his head. "It's okay, I had fun. It's great to hang out, you know? I just hope you feel better."

Bella smiled. "Thanks."

"Yeah. So uh, maybe we could do this again some time? You know, when you're feeling better? Maybe next week?"

Bella looked down at the dash. "Maybe," she said quietly. "I don't know. Call me tomorrow, okay? We'll talk tomorrow."

Jake nodded. "Okay. Cool."

Bella nodded too. "Okay. Well… I better get inside. Call me, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Bella opened the door and got out. She smiled at Jake and closed it. She crossed the yard to the front door and turned back and waved. She stood there in the light rain and watched Jake start the truck and pull away. She watched him go and she watched him turn the corner and then there was nothing left to see.

When she went inside she locked the door behind her. Charlie was in the living room. She went and said hi and then she went and made dinner. While they ate Charlie questioned her about the date and Bella described it for him briefly. Charlie listened and nodded but he didn't press for details and Bella wasn't in much of a chatty mood.

After dinner she went upstairs. The first thing she did was look out her window and there was Alice. It was a full moon and Bella could see her clearly, standing there in the dark and rain in the middle of the yard. Bella stared down at her for a minute and then she went over to the phone in her room and picked up the receiver. She'd written Alice's number down on a piece of paper under the phone. She dialed it and moved back over to the window and saw Alice take up her cell and put it to her ear wordlessly.

"How long have you been down there?" Bella asked.

"Not long," Alice replied. "I was hunting most of the afternoon."

"Hunting what?"

"Elk."

Bella didn't reply. They stood there like players in a Shakespearian drama, Bella in the window like Juliet on her balcony, and Alice below like Romeo.

"Are you going to kill me tonight?" Bella asked, curiously calm.

"No. I told you I'd never hurt you."

"I guess I still don't believe you."

"If you think I'm so dangerous, why don't you do something? I'm no law expert, but I think you've at least got grounds for a restraining order."

Bella shrugged. "I don't know," she said. "I guess it's not in my nature to protect myself."

Alice didn't reply.

"I'm strange like that," Bella said. "When I was fourteen, I broke my arm in school. A bully pushed me over and I landed wrong. It really hurt but I didn't scream or cry or anything. A teacher was going by and she saw what happened and she said I should go to the nurses office and put some ice on it. I said I would but I didn't. I went back to class and finished out the rest of the day writing with my left hand. After school I walked home by myself. I was in too much pain for homework so I sat down and watched TV. Even when my mother got home I never said anything. She went and made dinner—it was spaghetti, I remember that—and then she asked why I was eating with my left hand. I told her I hurt my arm. She made me show her and she saw right away that it was bent wrong and she started panicking the way she always did. She drove me to a doctor and the doctor wrapped it up and sent me to the hospital for x-rays. They had to operate to reset the bone. They said if I'd come earlier when it was fresh that they wouldn't have had to. They said I made it worse by not saying anything."

Alice listened in silence. Bella was smiling softly in the window, as if recalling something cute but embarrassing. "It's just how I am," she said. "I don't know. I could in be the ocean with a shark fin coming at me… I wouldn't scream to save my life. I just wouldn't do it."

Alice was silent for a minute. Then she said: "Are you going to see him again?"

Bella sighed into the phone. "I don't know. He's gonna call me tomorrow."

"I don't think you should."

"Why not?"

"Because I know someone who likes you more."

"Would you let me go out with him if I wanted too?"

"_Do_ you want too?"

Bella didn't answer for a minute. She touched the window frame and glanced at the phone in her hand. "I don't know."

"No," Alice said. "You're scared and confused, but you needn't be. You know I'd never hurt you. And you know I love you."

"You keep saying that but it doesn't make sense," Bella said, her voice raising. "How can you possibly love me so much? You don't even know me."

"It's complicated," Alice said softly. "Let's just say we were lovers in another life. Only you don't remember."

Bella looked away, blinking back tears. "I'm not a lesbian, Alice."

"You could change."

Bella shook her head and suddenly tears stung her eyes and her vision blurred. "What the hell are you doing to me?" she said in a watery voice. "Am I actually here? Am I actually talking to you right now? You're a vampire, for god's sake. You're a monster. You broke into my room. How can you ever ask me to love you?"

"Just one date, Bella," Alice said, pouncing on the vulnerability in Bella's voice. "Please."

"I can't."

"Please, Bella. Don't I deserve one date? I know my behavior has been inexcusable, but doesn't the sheer magnitude of my love for you entitle me to just one date?"

Bella shook her head. "I can't."

"Yes you can. Please, Bella. Just one date. I swear you won't regret it."

Bella bit her lip. She sniffed. She looked lost and confused. She looked down at Alice where the vampire stood gazing up at the girl in the window. "Where would we go?" Bella asked quietly.

Alice smiled in her cellphone. "Shopping," she said. "We'll go shopping."

"I hate shopping."

"Bella! How can you say that? It's a wonderful thing, shopping."

Bella sniffed. "I don't want to go shopping."

"Please, Bella? You'll have fun, I promise."

Bella looked down. She sniffed and looked back at Alice. "I don't know."

"Please, Bella. Answer now, without thinking. Please."

Bella wiped her eyes. She looked up at the moon and down at Alice. "Okay," she said. "One date."

Alice smiled and took a deep trembling breath. "Thank you, Bella."

Bella nodded and sniffed. "I better get to bed," she said. "I'm tired."

"Yes. Thank you, Bella. Thank you so much."

"I gotta go…"

"Okay. Sweet dreams, Bella. Sleep well."

"You too," Bella said softly. Then she hung up.

That night as she was drifting off to sleep she heard the window gently open and then gently close again. She didn't stir and pretty soon she could hear a soft sound in the darkness.

It sounded like purring.


	8. Chapter 7: Falling

Chapter 7: Falling

The storm had passed in the night and the birds where chirping in the morning. When Bella woke her eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was Alice sitting on the edge of the bed gazing down at her lovingly.

"Morning, Bella," she said, reaching down to brush hair away from her face.

Bella winced away from the hand. "What are you doing here?"

Alice withdrew the hand but she was still smiling. Her hair was lank and dull from standing in the rain last night but she still managed to look pretty, especially as she smiled. "Watching you sleep," she said. "You're so beautiful when you sleep."

"You were here all night?"

"Mmhm."

"Don't you have a coffin to sleep in somewhere?"

"Of course not, silly."

Bella sighed and squinted about the room. It was dim but not as dim as some mornings. The curtains were closed and somewhere in the woods outside she could hear birds singing. She looked Alice up and down and frowned. "Can you move?" she said. "I have to get up."

Alice rose to her feet. Bella threw off the covers and got out of bed. She covered her mouth with her hand and yawned. She glanced at Alice who was watching her with a fascinated expression. "Were you watching me all night?"

"Yep," Alice chirped, then quickly added: "Well, not all night. As beautiful as you are, Bella, I'm afraid I wasn't patient enough to just sit here for hours on end and do nothing. So as a distraction I went through all your stuff and made a list of all the things you'll need for when we go shopping."

"You went through my stuff?"

"I was bored."

Bella stared at her.

"You'd be shocked how much stuff you're missing," Alice went on. "Your underwear drawer's in a dreadful state, I'll tell you that much. Not a bit of color in whole damn thing."

Bella sighed and looked away. Her clothes from yesterday were strewn over the floor. She grabbed up the jacket and shrugged it on over her tanktop and then she started to step into the jeans.

Alice watched her and smiled. "The only thing I can't seem to find is your makeup kit."

"I don't have one."

"No makeup kit? Well, where do you keep your makeup? In the bathroom?"

"I don't have any makeup."

"No makeup?"

"No. My mom bought me some when I was twelve. But I threw it all out before the move."

Alice blinked at her. Then she grinned slowly. "No makeup, no cellphone. No shoes, no scarfs, no leopardprint panties. Do realize how perfect this is, Bella?"

"Perfect?"

"Of course," Alice smiled. She stepped forward and took both of Bella's hands and held them. She spoke softly, supposing this to be a tender moment perhaps. "Don't you see, Bella? Everything you lack in your life, I want to give you. We're a perfect fit. It's almost as if you were born just to meet me. Don't you think?"

Bella sighed. She could see the window over Alice's shoulder and she could see a thin line of light between the curtains. She looked at Alice and sighed again. She pulled away her hands. "I gotta go to the bathroom," she said.

Alice nodded and giggled. "Okay," she said. "I'll let you go do your business. I better get home anyway. The family will be getting worried by now—more worried about you than me probably—and I better have a shower too. I wanna look nice and pretty for our date today."

Alice was backing up toward the window. Bella nodded but then she realized what Alice just said and her head whipped up so quick her hair bounced. "Today? What do you mean, today?"

Alice smiled. "Our date," she said. "You didn't forget, did you?"

Bella shook her head, her stomach lurching. "I never said anything about today, Alice. I need time, I can't just…"

Alice paused with her back to the window and tilted her head. "We never got a chance to discuss it, but I figured today's as good as any other day. Better even."

"How could it possibly be better?"

"Because it's sooner."

Bella exhaled shakily and looked away. She shook her head, her lip trembling.

Alice looked at her gently and then she came forward and gave Bella a hug. She put her arms around her and gave her a little squeeze. "Trust me, Bella," she whispered. "Today's going to be great. Not just for me, but for you as well. I've seen it."

Bella said nothing, but the sudden hug had a strange affect on her. It was tight but gentle and Alice was rocking her back and forth. Bella could smell her hair and it smelt like rain and leaves. She turned her nose to it slightly. There were butterflies in her stomach, but was that good or bad? Bella blinked away her tears and slowly she raised her arms to hug the other girl back. In that moment she realized that she did want Alice's touch to feel good. Not in a sexual way, but in a comforting way. She was so worn out with pushing her away that maybe it would be a relief to just… hold her.

Alice kissed her cheek and let her go. "I'll pick you up at ten, okay? Will you be ready?"

Bella nodded, sniffing. She had the impulse to wipe her cheek with the collar of her jacket, but didn't. The skin tingled where Alice's lips had touched it.

Alice smiled, backing up to the window. "It'll be great, Bella. Trust me."

Bella looked at her with glistening eyes. The butterflies in her stomach swirled and swirled and there was a floaty feeling in her chest and she was starting to get dizzy. All this and the day was only just beginning.

Alice smiled at her and then she turned to the window and threw open the curtains. A warm light washed over her and lit the room softly. She bent and looked up at the sky. The clouds were white and there were even some patches of blue. She turned to Bella and smiled. "It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day," she said. "For both of us."

Bella folded her arms and nodded anxiously. "I'll see you later."

"Ten o'clock, don't forget. And wear something pretty. I was going to lay out an outfit for you but I thought that might be a bit too creepy."

Bella laughed, a startled snort. "That actually would've helped me out."

Alice giggled. "Don't worry, I was only joking. You'll be pretty no matter what you wear."

Bella smiled hesitantly. She nodded again. "Okay."

Alice smiled back. She turned to the window and lifted it. There was no wind, just a light breeze that rustled the curtains. The birds chirped and Alice stood there in the gentle yellow light for a moment and took a deep breath of the morning air. She tossed one last smile at Bella and stepped over the windowsill and started to climb down. Bella watched her go and then she went over to the window. She looked out and Alice must've been waiting to see if she would because she was still down there. Bella gave her a little smile and Alice smiled back. She lifted a hand to wave and Bella waved back to see her off and then Alice turned and strolled away into the woods. Bella watched her until she was out of sight and then she closed the window and shut the curtains. She stood there for a moment with her head down and that weird floaty feeling in her chest. Then she turned away and went and sat on the edge of the bed for a while.

.

Already it is ten o'clock. Bella sits at the kitchen table with an untouched cup of coffee in her hands. She's showered and dressed and now she sits watching the clock on the wall. She wears black jeans and a black hoody. The seconds tick by slowly and after a while there is a knock at the door.

The butterflies in her stomach swirl as she reaches for the doorknob and flare as she opens it and lays eyes on the person behind it. Alice stands on the porch smiling sweetly, her pale face lightly dusted with blush and her long lashes thick and feathery with mascara. She wears hipster jeans that have a red love heart embroidered on the thigh and she wears a sleeveless top of a soft pink material that is low cut and from which her pale breasts swell softly above the lace neckline and she wears also a gold necklace with a ruby pendant that sits winking in the nook of her marblecolored collarbone. She looks like a girl dressed for a date and that date is Bella and Bella's eyes flicker up and down this latterday vampire come to court her in stony amazement. The lips that smile at her are pink and glossy and the eyes that watch her are pale and gentle and there is a scarlet magnolia perched behind her ear and her hair is arranged with pink clips that have fake rosebuds on them that are pink as well. Bella hasn't realized but her mouth has fallen open. Alice tilts her head and giggles. "Well?" she says. "Are you ready to go?"

Bella nods mutely and closes the door. Alice takes her hand and leads her to the car that sits crouched on the curb, a canary yellow Porsche. The sky is white and bright and there is no wind at all and it is almost warm. Alice opens the passenger side door and Bella slides into the black leather seat. She can smell leather and perfume and she watches through the windshield as Alice moves around the hood of the car to the other side and opens the door and climbs in. Alice slips the key into the ignition and smiles at Bella. The engine roars to life. "You might wanna buckle up," she says. "My brother Jasper says that when I'm headed for the mall I drive like a drunk going after more whisky."

Bella smiles weakly and reaches for the seatbelt. Alice pulls away from the curb and accelerates down the block.

"So, um," Bella says, watching the speedometer needle turn. "Where are we going, anyway?"

Alice smiles at her. "You'll see."

Bella looks at her for a moment. Then she turns to the window. They drive down main street past startled pedestrians who's heads turn to watch this exotic yellow automobile fly by and they turn off north along the road that leads out of town. Out here the road is long and empty and there are woods on both sides. Tall moss covered trees the reflections of which race the length of the car along the windows and polished paint of the hood. Dark earth below and white clouds above and nothing moving at all in the landscape other than themselves and the random birds that crossed overhead. Bella touched her head to the cool windowglass and watched the trees blur by. She turned to Alice.

"Are we going to Seattle?"

"Mmhm," Alice chirped. "It's really the only option for serious shopping. Well, the only feasible option. If I had my way I'd fly you out to Rome so we could do it properly."

Bella smiled. "What do they have in Rome that isn't in Seattle?"

Alice looked at her incredulously. "Are you serious? Rome is, like, the fashion capital of the world. Well, next to Paris anyway. It's really a matter of taste, but if there's one thing that cements Rome in my heart as the greatest city in the world it's the shoe selection. Shoe shopping in Rome is about the closest you'll ever get to heaven on earth, and I say that in all seriousness."

"Do you like shoes?"

"Do I like shoes?" Alice asked in a gasp, as if she couldn't quite believe someone could ask such a silly question. She even twitched with the steering wheel. "Of course I like shoes. I _love_ shoes. Shoes are, like, my favorite thing in the world."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. In fact, that's my one lament for today. That we won't be able to go shoe shopping."

"Why not?"

"Not enough time."

Bella shrugged hesitantly. "There's time," she said. "I told Charlie I'd be out pretty much all day so…"

Alice giggled. "I like your attitude Bella, but when I say there's not enough time, I mean there's not enough time in the day. Ideally you should set aside a whole day solely for shoe shopping, or a whole weekend even. It's not something that should be rushed."

Bella shook her head.

"That's the problem with immortality," Alice went on. "You buy shoes quicker than designers make them. Still, there's always next season to look forward too."

"Why don't you design your own?"

"I have, but it's not the same. It would be like a stamp collector designing his own stamps."

"Oh."

"I've designed clothes though. Prom dresses mainly. I've always loved sketching and coming up with different designs."

Bella nodded.

Alice giggled and shook her head. "But enough about me, today's supposed to be about you. Tell me something about yourself."

"Like what?"

"Anything. I think's it's safe to say that I'm curious about everything about you, Bella."

"Er…"

Alice grinned. "We'll start with something simple. What's your favorite color?"

"Black," Bella said. But it was a lie, her favorite color was really pink but she was embarrassed to say so. "Black and purple."

"Me too," Alice said. But she was lying too. Her favorite color was pink as well but she'd already decided to agree with whatever Bella said. "I _love_ black and purple, they go so well together."

"I guess."

"It's funny though. I've always noticed that when you ask someone their favorite color, they always say two colors. And one of them is always black or white."

Bella nodded. "Black and purple is pretty common, I guess."

Alice nodded too. "I suppose. What about music? What sort of music do you like?"

"Metal."

"Heavy metal? Like rock music?"

"Mmhm."

"Well, isn't that interesting. Then again, I never figured you for the kind of girl to go around humming pop music."

"I bet you are."

Alice grinned. "Guilty. I love pop music. I'm a sucker for all female vocalists, to tell you the truth."

"I like female vocalists too. Like Evanescence."

"I _love_ Evanescence. Hey, you know what we should do today?"

"What?"

"Check out some music stores. It wasn't originally on my schedule but it'll be fun, don't you think?"

"Okay."

"Okay. So what about books? Let's talk about books. What's your favorite?"

"Pride and Prejudice," Bella lied. It was actually Wuthering Heights but she didn't want to mention it.

"Me too," Alice said instantly. Coincidently, her favorite book was Wuthering Heights as well. "I love Lizzy. She's so snarky."

"I've read all Jane Austin."

"Me too."

"Have you read any Shakespeare?"

"Of course."

"What's your favorite play?"

"Romeo and Juliet. But I like his sonnets more, and I absolutely adore Venus and Adonis."

"Me too, it's so beautiful."

"I know. But you know, I've always thought Venus and Adonis has a very strong lesbian subtext."

Bella winced at the word lesbian.

"Seriously," Alice smirked. "Think about it. Adonis is practically a woman anyway. He's beautiful and scornful and all desirable. He even acts repelled by Venus as if he was a woman."

"It's open to interpretation I guess."

"Yes," Alice said. "It's funny. If you think about it, even Romeo and Juliet has a lesbian subtext. Most people who've never read the play think that Romeo is some kind of a Casanova, but he isn't. He's more like a lovestruck schoolgirl. Even in the actual play itself he's accused of acting like a woman in how he loves Juliet. And isn't Romeo supposed to be every woman's romantic ideal? It would seem to insinuate that what a woman wants is a woman's love, don't you think?"

Bella didn't reply. She looked out the window silently.

Alice shrugged. "It's just weird, that's all."

They rode in silence for a while. Bella watched the trees whizzing by outside. She listened to the motor humming. She glanced at Alice's face and at the flower in her hair and she glanced at those tiny hands that gripped the steering wheel. She noticed that Alice had painted her nails pink. Bella's gaze traveled down and she glanced down at Alice's foot on the pedal. She was wearing opened toed sandals, and her toenails were painted pink too. Bella blushed and looked away, the butterflies in her stomach stirring violently. She thought about what Alice had said. A woman's love. A woman's glance, a woman's words. A woman's touch.

Alice opened her mouth to say something but Bella spoke before she could.

"I've never been attracted to girl's before," she said.

Alice glanced at her, closing her mouth.

Bella's stomach felt twisted with anxiety. She swallowed and looked at Alice. "But I think you're… kinda cute."

At first Alice seemed stunned. Then she smiled. "Only kinda?"

Bella's face was bright red. She shrugged a shoulder.

"I was a bit nervous about the pink, to be honest," Alice said smiling, returning her eyes to the road, smoothing her top self-consciously. "I'm not normally a pink sort of girl, but I was just so happy and so excited about our date and I saw this little thing in my closet and suddenly I was in such a rage to wear pink and I thought…"

She broke off and bit her lip. She would've been blushing to if she were able to.

"It suits you," Bella said.

"Thanks," Alice said, lighting up with another smile. "I was so nervous. I really wanted to make an impression but at the same time I knew it was hopeless because you probably wouldn't care but…" She broke off again. She glanced at Bella, trying to rein in her smile. "You do mean it though, don't you? You're not just being nice?"

"I mean it."

"Good. I painted my nails too, did you notice?"

"Yes."

"And what about the flower, did you notice my flower?"

"Yes. It looks nice."

"Thanks. I didn't think you'd notice. Actually, it was a last minute decision. I was originally planning to give the flower to you, but that's just so cliché and I didn't think you'd like it anyway and it would've been awkward too, you know standing there in the doorway with a flower in my hand…"

Bella smiled, watching her flounder.

Alice broke off and took a deep breath. She glanced at Bella. "You look really pretty too, by the way."

Bella blushed and shook her head.

"No, you do! Honestly. I just never said anything before because I didn't want to make you nervous. It's not that I forgot or didn't notice. You know I'd never do that. Don't you, Bella?"

It was past noon by the time they got to Seattle. The clouds were greyer here but only a little. There was no wind and no chance of rain and they drove into town with Bella's stomach rumbling and Alice promising the best lunch she'd ever had. They pulled up at a café were Alice playfully warned Bella not to move before getting out and coming around to open the door for her herself. She even offered her hand to help Bella out and Bella took it and stepped one black boot out onto the sidewalk and then the other. Alice tossed the keys to a man in a short red jacket standing by a small rack of other keys and the valet went around to the driver's side, got in, and pulled away toward the parking lot.

The café was cited on a rise over looking the intersection. The tables were glass and stood on shiny steel stalks and the chairs were steel too. There were pottered ferns in corners and a low wall of limewashed brick and many of the outdoor tables were taken and many of them looked to be couples. Men and women fashionably attired in suits and dresses sipping little glasses of red wine in an atmosphere that seemed very refined. Bella was nervous as Alice led her to a free table, partly because they were holding hands and partly because she was severely underdressed and partly because she and Alice were the youngest people there. She noticed some people glance at their clasped hands but for some reason Bella could not pull away. But just as she thought it Alice let go and pulled out a chair and smiled for her to sit. Bella did, her eyes shifting about nervously, and Alice pushed the chair in and Bella composed herself awkwardly. The table they'd chosen was in the corner and there was a slim vase in the center with a white tulip in it. Alice took the seat opposite and smiled. "So?" she said. "What do you think?"

Despite the nervousness there was an undeniable thrill at being in such a swanky place and Bella couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips. "It looks okay," she said.

"Do you want me to order for you?"

Bella had already spotted the waitress coming at them, eyeing these two teenagers skeptically. "Yes. Thanks."

"How's the Alfredo sound?"

Bella had no idea what it was. "Great."

When the waitress appeared she offered them menus but Alice waved them away politely and recited their order in a clear and confident voice, naming the dishes in perfect Italian. The waitress seemed surprised but satisfied. She went away and came back almost instantly with a cutglass jug of water and two wine glasses. Alice poured the water and Bella took up her glass by the stem and went to sip for lack of anything else to do with her hands. Alice poured her own but she didn't drink. They both lifted their eyes at the same time and their eyes met. Alice smiled and Bella felt an odd throb in her chest.

While they waited for the food to arrive Alice turned the conversation to the subject of shopping. Bella once again related her dislike of the activity but Alice simply would not believe her. She said that if Bella really did dislike shopping then there must be some childhood trauma in her past that's responsible and she should go see a psychiatrist and have it cured because no self-respecting woman should claim aloud that she disliked something so wonderful as shopping and by then the food had arrived.

The Alfredo was a fettuccini pasta in a creamy white sauce and Bella loved it. She was really hungry too and she sat sort of hunched over her plate without realizing it. For a drink she had iced tea with a lemon wedge floating in it and as she ate she sipped. Alice watched her with a wistful expression. She'd ordered a salad and it sat before her untouched. Bella nodded at it. "Vampire's don't eat, do they?"

Alice shook her head. "No. It's one of the things I miss."

Bella twirled the pasta around her fork. "Is it hard? Being a vampire?"

"It can be difficult at times, but it's a small sacrifice really. Eating and sleeping are things most humans wish they didn't have to do anyway. What I miss most is the warmth. Which is strange, because I'm not cold to my own touch. I just don't like the idea of someone shivering when I take their hand."

Bella was still twirling the pasta.

"The biggest danger," Alice said. "Is the thirst. I never had any problems before I met you, though."

Bella stopped twirling the pasta. "What do I smell like?"

"Excuse me?"

"I remember once you said it was my scent that attracted you. I was just wondering… what it smells like."

Alice smiled. She leaned forward daintily on her elbows like a girl about to impart a secret. She seemed to be forming the words in her mind and she spoke in a low whisper. "You smell like… hot death. Delirium… and dizziness. It's the smell of a soul, Bella. It's the smell of everything you've ever known or felt, everything you've ever loved or believed in, the smell of it all hot and pumping and waiting to be devoured. How else would damnation call to you? Not with sex or money but with hunger. It's a smell both exquisite… and terrifying."

Bella gulped. The fork was limp in her hand. "The Alfredo smells pretty good too," she said, aiming at levity.

Alice grinned. Then she giggled and sat back. "Yes," she said. "But I don't believe it smells as enticing as you."

When Bella was finished her pasta Alice passed her the salad and Bella picked at it frugally. She was still kind of hungry but she didn't want to look like a glutton. The waitress came by when they were done and Alice ordered two cappuccinos and a slice of black forest cake for Bella. Bella tried to refuse but Alice only smiled. The dessert came with a little silver fork that had an intricate inlay on the handle and Bella took it up and sighed and had a bite of the cake. It was delicious. She told Alice it was delicious and Alice giggled and told her to hurry up before the shops all close.

It was just before two in the afternoon when they pulled up in the mall parking lot, Alice once again hurrying to open the car door for Bella. They walked hand in through the parking lot past people pushing shopping carts and they went in through the sliding glassdoors that opened by themselves and on into the plaza. There was a large fountain that streamed and trickles as they came in and behind it was a postmodern sculpture of stacked cubes that loomed as high as the stairs. People were everywhere. Alice released Bella's hand and walked forward, twirling on the spot and smiling around with great satisfaction, like a person just arrived home after being away a while. She clapped her hands and grinned at Bella. "Where to first?"

Bella for the most part was content to let Alice lead. She mentioned during lunch that before she'd left Phoenix her mother had given her some money to buy some winter clothes. She'd told her mother over the phone that she'd already done it but she hadn't so Alice took her now. They bought jackets and sweaters and scarfs and pants and everything Bella bought for herself Alice bought her another so she she'd have variations. Bella attempted to refuse but Alice shushed her as if it wasn't even open to discussion and then she went flittering about the store for more things for Bella to try on. They left the store toting a bushel of shopping bags each, all of them filled their volume, and they took the bags out to the car and put them in the trunk and went back inside again.

They bought makeup and a makeup kit. Nail polish, perfume. A loofa. They went to a shoe store and looked around. There was nothing Bella needed but Alice bought her a pair a pricy black pumps on the simple argument that every girl should own at least one set of heels.

Now came Alice's favorite part, the browsing. For over an hour they wandered aimless and excited among the stores, pausing to examine whatever would catch their fancy and moving on again. They rode a glass elevator and skipped up stairs and they went strolling along the promenade with Alice's heeled sandals clicking on the polished marble floor and Bella gazing about a with a strange serenity, hand in hand like lovers, Alice in pink, Bella in black, a cute couple. The glances their clasped hands drew from the milling shoppers varied from curiosity to confusion to distain. They looked like sisters or bestfriends or two girls on a date but whatever they might've looked like they were something entirely other than what their appearance suggested and there were none in that mall who glanced their way that could guess the true dynamic between the two girls for the exact nature of their relationship was a mystery even to themselves.

Alice bought Bella a cellphone and a cellphone cover with a butterfly design and by the time they'd left the store Alice already had it out the box. She inputted her number into the speed dial and handed it back to Bella while fetching her own from her pocket. It was the maiden call, she said. Bella rolled her eyes and hit Alice's number. Alice answered it instantly and made a big show of being surprised it was Bella even though Bella stood less than three feet away, smiling and shaking her head. Bella said thank you and Alice said it was her pleasure and then they continued on, walking side by side with their clasped hands penduluming between them, chatting into the phones they held to their ears though they could hear each other perfectly without them

Alice bought Bella a chocolate icecream. She bought her an latte at Starbucks. At a certain store she bought her a hairclip in the shape of a lavender butterfly and Bella stood demurely while Alice set it in her hair. Their eyes met in doing so and Bella felt again that peculiar throb in her chest. Alice smiled and took Bella's hand and they went roaming once more.

There were dresses on sale at an upscale store called Voyage and Alice determined on buying Bella one. They went among the racks and mannequins with their clasped hands, the salesgirl arching an eyebrow at them. The woman wore a black skirtsuit and a gold name tag that said Megan and she asked them if they required any help. She addressed herself to Alice, who must've appeared to be the dominant one of the pair despite her slight stature, and Alice said she was looking to buy her girlfriend a dress. Bella blushed at the term but she made no protests. The salesgirl seemed slightly taken aback too and she inquired Bella's size so that she might show them some samples but Alice giggled and pulled Bella to her. She said they'd be fine on their own.

The change rooms were mirrored each wall and the back of the doors were mirrored too. There was a plush bench on one side and the carpets were beige. Alice had upward half a dozen dresses draped over her arm and she ushered Bella into one of these little mirrored rooms and then she followed her inside and closed the door behind them.

Bella looked at the closed door suspiciously. All of a sudden it seemed doubtful that Alice would be waiting outside while she changed.

Alice tossed the dresses onto the bench. "Okay," she said. "Which one do you want to try on first? The Kate Miller? The Jacqueline Roche?

"Um, I don't know. The black one."

"There's five black ones, Bella."

"I don't know, that one. I don't even know what I need a dress for anyway."

"There's no crime in owning pretty clothes, Bella. Only in not wearing them."

Bella sighed and stood there, waiting to see if Alice would leave. Alice held a dress and looked at her expectantly. "Well?" she said. "Aren't you going to get undressed?"

Bella felt her chest tighten. She gave Alice a steady look and then she turned slightly to her side and blushed and reached for the button on her jeans. Alice turned away politely, pretending to examine the dress in her hands but discreetly watching Bella. While Bella was unbuttoning she kicked off her boots and as she was unzipping she chanced a glance at Alice in the mirror but Alice glanced away. Bella let the jeans drop and she stepped from them and kicked them aside with her sockfeet. Her heart was racing and she took the hem of her top in both hands and pulled it up over her breasts and over her head. The soft expanse of her back was pale and smooth and Alice watched as the hair that had been gathered up in Bella's top came crashing down like a blueblack wave upon that ivory softness and she almost moaned aloud from yearning. Bella tossed aside the top and lifted her eyes to the mirror and met Alice's.

Alice's eyes had been darkening throughout the day. When she'd first knocked on the door in the morning they had been a pale yellow. By the time they'd got to Seattle they were a honey color. And now… Now they were the color of dark chocolate.

Alice's eyes flickered down over Bella's back and over the backs of her legs and back up again to Bella's eyes in the mirror. She stepped forward and reached out gently. She touched Bella's soft and pale shoulder and Bella shivered but why did she shiver?

"You're skin is so beautiful, Bella…" Alice murmured. "And so warm…"

Bella glanced at the hand on her shoulder. She didn't know what was going to happen next but she was surprised. Alice jerked the hand away and stumbled back toward the door. "I'm sorry," she said breathlessly. "I have to go to the bathroom. You try on the dresses, okay? I'll be back in a minute."

Bella watched her go wordlessly, standing there in her bra and panties. Alice opened the door and stepped out and as she closed it she tossed one last longing glance at Bella's pale figure before the door clicked shut.

By the time Alice got back Bella had only tried on four of the dresses but she's found the one she wanted. It was long and black, backless and strapless. The bodice bunched up her breasts and her skin was blinding white above the ebony material. Bella watched her reflection with a certain fascination, as if in slight disbelief that she looked so pretty. The bra straps looked a little strange and she had no makeup and her hair wasn't styled but she really did look beautiful. She'd taken off her socks and she stood on her toes to emulate heels but she had no balance and she looked cute and weird all at once. Then there was a gentle knock at the door. "Bella?" came Alice's voice. "Can I come in?"

Bella felt a flutter of panic. But was it over her safety or over what Alice would think of the dress? "Um, okay."

The doorknob turned and the door opened and Alice took one glance inside and gasped. Bella was facing the mirror and Alice could see both her back and her front and she was stunned. Bella's hair was tumbled down her back like a dark veil and the hem of the dress stopped just above her pale and slender ankles and the material hugged her trim waist and accentuated her curves beautifully. "Bella…!" Alice breathed, stepping forward and closing the door behind her. "You look so..."

Bella smiled and shrugged. And blushed. "It's not bad," she said, smoothing the dress against her torso. "It's just a shame I'll never have an opportunity to wear it."

"Well you'll just have to make an opportunity, won't you? Is this the one you've decided on?"

Bella turned to her. The price tag dangled beside her right breast, as if it were the girl herself for sale. "I don't know," she said. "It's really expensive."

Alice didn't even reply to that. "Have you tried on all the others?"

Bella nodded. She hadn't though.

Alice put her hands on her hips and looked Bella up and down gravely. Her eyes were yellow again and their expression was not so much hungry as… awed. "Well I won't argue your choice. I'd been hoping to see you in all the others, but…" Alice trailed off and shook her head. As if Bella's beauty was a trouble to her.

Bella gave a small smile. She smoothed at the material, not knowing what to do with her hands. "Do you want to see me try on the other's anyway?"

Alice looked up in sudden excitement. "Would you?"

Bella shrugged a shoulder, her heart fluttering. "You're the one buying. Do you want to?"

Alice giggled and clapped her hands. "Yes! Of course I do! What kind of silly question is that? I'd love to see you try on the others."

"Well," Bella said, "pick one." She reached behind her back for the zip.

"Oh wait," Alice said quickly. "Can I get the zip?"

"It's okay, I can reach."

"Please, Bella? Let me get the zip. I'd love it so much if I could get the zip."

Bella sighed. "Okay fine, get the zip."

A weird moment, something faintly erotic to it. Bella turned her back and gathered her hair over her shoulder and Alice came forward and grasped the tab of the zip and gently lowered it, exposing her creamy white back to the waist band of her panties. They froze for a moment, Alice still holding the zip, Bella still holding her hair. Their eyes met in the mirror and then Alice smiled and stepped back and turned to the pile of dresses on the bench and started to sort through them.

They were half an hour in the change room and even that was them hurrying. Most of the dresses were black and two of them purple and one white. Most were long but some were knee length and one that was very, very short with very, very thin straps and in Alice's words very, very sexy. It had about the same coverage as a towel and the material was soft and taut across her body and Bella blushed at her reflection. She thought she looked like a hooker but Alice was in raptures over it. She almost liked it better than the other one and in the end she bought Bella both. They left the store with Alice jauntily swinging the shopping bag they came in and Bella still blushing, dressed again in her jeans and hoody. She told Alice to her face that she was never ever going to wear the short one in public but Alice only laughed and said she didn't have to. She said she'd feel better just knowing that Bella owned it.

By now the sun was setting and most of the lights in the mall were on. They took seats on a bench by the fountain so that Bella could rest. They could hear the trickle of the fountain and the constant hum of surging shoppers. The ceiling above was glass and domed and when Bella looked at Alice she saw that Alice was looking up. Bella glanced up too. There were a couple of birds roosting on the ceiling's iron framework, side by side much like Bella and Alice below, and the clouds above were red and orange and dark in the distance and all of it bleeding and draining away like watercolor.

Bella looked at Alice. "So," she said, smiling. "Where to next?"

Alice smiled at her. "Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

"Well," Alice said, dusting her knee with her hand. "You will be when I'm done with you." Then she stood and gathered up the shopping bags and offered a hand to Bella. Bella took it and stood and they went hand in hand through the sliding doors out into the parking lot.

Soon it was dark. They drove through streets softly lit by streetlamps, Bella gazing out the window with a dreamy expression, watching the night pass by. They pulled up at a hotel were a limousine was just leaving. The glass doors were opened by a doorman in a gold tasseled uniform who regarded them suspiciously as they passed. The lobby was enormous and there was a faint and constant echo of voices and dimly from the ballroom they could hear music. Alice led Bella hand in hand to the reception counter and said, "Reservation for Cullen?"

The concierge, a tall man in a blue suit with slicked back silver hair, checked on a computer. Bella frowned about. The counter was darkwood and so polished she could see her reflection.

"I tried, like, a million places before I found this one," Alice was saying. "It's so hard to get a reservation anywhere decent on such short notice."

"What are we doing here?" Bella asked quietly.

"What do you mean? You gotta eat, right?"

"Why are we getting a room?"

Alice smiled. "So we can change. Unless you wanted to get dressed in the bathroom?"

Bella fell silent. The concierge confirmed the reservation and passed across the counter a fiberglass keycard. Alice noted the room number on it and handed it to Bella. "You go check out the room, okay? I'll go get your dress from the car."

Bella nodded wordlessly. She watched Alice cross the lobby and disappear out the doors. She looked about the lobby with a worried expression and spied the elevators on the far side. The doors were gold and shiny. She went over and pressed the call button, holding the keycard in both hands, watching her reflection in the doors. Then they opened. Inside was red carpet and shiny gold walls and there was a man in there dressed in a gray and red uniform. He asked which floor she'd like to go to, and she looked down at the keycard in her hands and gave her best guess which number corresponded to the room's floor.

She rode the elevator listening to the hum it made, her stomach lurching with the ascent. When it stopped there was a ding and the doors opened. Bella emerged into a quiet and carpeted hallway with beigecolored walls lined with mahogany doors that had gold number plates. Behind her the elevator closed and rumbled away. She went down the hall, glancing at the keycard, glancing at the doors. She finally found her own and she swiped the card and opened the door and went in.

There were two single beds against the wall. There was an ornate fireplace with a large scenic oilpainting hanging over it. A low coffee table in front of the sofa with a bowl of fresh fruit on it. Bella came forward, still holding the keycard in both hands. She looked about the room as if there were something amiss with it. As if it was missing something. She went over and sat on one of the beds. Then she stood and moved over to the lace curtains and opened them. She thought it would be a window but it was a set of double glass doors that led out on to a balcony. She opened them and went out.

The balustrade was marble and cold to the touch. There was a cool wind and it rustled her hair gently. She sighed and looked up. The was sky and black and the clouds were dark gray and there were some stars twinkling in the haze. Bella lowered her head and took a deep breath. "What the fuck am I doing?" she whispered to herself.

There was a knock at the door. "Bella?" came Alice's voice. "Can you open the door? I don't have the key."

Bella went back into the room and opened the door. Alice came in grinning, toting a bunch of shopping bags. "Hi," she said. "I got everything."

Bella shut the door. She turned and watched Alice dump the bags on the bed and start tipping them out one by one on the bedspread. Alice found Bella's long black dress and held it up. "You're going to look so beautiful, Bella. I bet you didn't think you'd have an opportunity to wear this so soon, did you?"

"No," Bella said, coming forward. "But what are you going to wear?"

Alice giggled and plucked up the short black cocktail dress with her other hand. "I think this should fit. I'm not quite as slender as you, but with a dress like this maybe that's not such a bad thing, hm?"

Bella nodded vaguely. She looked overwhelmed. Shellshocked, perhaps. Alice giggled and laid both dresses side by side on the other bed. She turned to Bella and clapped her hands. "Now," she said. "Do you want to shower first, or shall I?"

Bella went first. The bathroom was white tile and the shower was a glass cubicle in the corner with a detachable gold showerhead. Alice had given her the loofa and the showergel they'd bought at the mall and Bella stood under the water sponging herself over, first her arms and then her chest and finally her legs. Under the warm water she felt pleasantly numb and when she was done she dried herself with a terrycloth towel and slipped into her dress.

When she came back into the room Alice looked up and saw her emerge from the bathroom in a puff of steam, dressed in the black gown with her black hair all wet and ropy and the skin above the bodice pinkened from the shower.

Bella smiled. "I'm done."

"Oh," Alice said. "Right. Um… I guess it's my turn then."

"Okay."

Alice took up her dress and ducked into the bathroom. She closed the door and leaned back against it. She saw Bella's clothes lying on the counter and took up her hoody and held it to her face and inhaled.

By the time Alice came out Bella had donned her heels and was practicing walking back and forth across the room. She looked like someone with a sore foot. She looked up at the sound of the bathroom door and froze midstep, her arms out for balance. Alice wore the cocktail dress or perhaps the cocktail dress wore her. Her breasts all but bulged from the neckline and her legs were shockingly long and white, displayed by the dress in all their shapely magnificence. Bella looked away in alarm. Then she looked back again. Alice smirked and twirled on the spot. "What do you think?"

"It's…" Bella swallowed. "…nice."

They dried their hair with the hotel blowdryer and brushed it and clipped it up and then they sat side by side at the vanity table while Alice took to Bella's face all kinds of cosmetic implements. They wore blush and eyeshadow. Mascara. Bella sat like a doll, her eyes following with some suspicion the tools in Alice's hands, and Alice leaned to Bella's parted lips with the glossbrush and began to paint them slowly and gently, her own painted lips smiling and the silent heart within her chest in phantom flutters at such delicious closeness.

They took the elevator down and crossed the lobby not hand in hand but arm in arm. People not only glanced but turned their whole torsos to look. They proceeded to the hotel dining room, Alice's arm threaded around Bella's, and they were seated at a secluded booth in the rear. Bella slipped in first and then Alice and they sat side by side with scarcely any space between them at all.

A candlelit dinner. A vase of roses on the white tablecloth and silk napkins and silver cutlery and crystal chandeliers twinkling overhead. There was an orchestra on the stage toward the front of the hall and the music was soft and beautiful and there was a dancefloor where several couples swayed and stepped. They had dinner and dessert and when Alice asked if Bella would like to dance she didn't say no. She hated dancing and she could barely walk in her heels and she was nervous and uncomfortable in her fancy dress and makeup, but she didn't say no. She said yes and Alice took her hand for the hundredth time that day and led her out onto the floor where they stepped into each other's arms and started to sway to the music, swaying and stepping with Alice's hand on Bella's shoulder and Bella's hand at Alice's waist, swaying, and Alice laid her head on Bella's shoulder and Bella turned her nose to Alice's hair and they danced, stepping, swaying, and holding each other.

It was late when they drove back to Forks. They'd changed back into their normal clothes and washed their faces of makeup back at the hotel and they rode in silence, but it wasn't a tense silence. Something had happened that day, something changed between them. Neither knew what it was but they both knew that things were not the same as they were yesterday and they probably never would be. On the way home Bella almost fell asleep and perhaps she did. When Alice pulled up outside her house she jolted slightly and looked out the window in surprise, as if wondering how they'd got here so quick.

It took five trips to bring in all of Bella's stuff, toting the bags from the trunk of the car and up the stairs to Bella's room. Charlie stood by watching with his hands on his hips. "Wow," he said when they were done. "Quite a haul, huh Bells?"

They spent some time up in Bella's room, sorting through the purchases, but it was getting late. Alice was reluctant to leave but she was even more reluctant to spoil the date. She asked Bella to walk her to her car.

And here they are, standing under the stars. Alice turns to Bella and takes her hands. "I really had fun today Bella," she said. "I think… it was the most fun I've ever had in my whole life."

Bella smiles. "I had fun too."

"Really?"

"Mmhm."

"Can we do it again sometime?"

"Sure."

"When?"

"I don't know. Whenever you want."

"Oh Bella…" Alice says. Her eyes look wet in the starlight and she blinks them quickly as if trying not to cry. Then she steps up onto her toes and presses her lips to Bella's. Bella's eyes fall closed. Her hand comes up to Alice's cheek. Alice pulls back and throws her arms around Bella and hugs her tightly. She nuzzles Bella's neck. "I don't know if I can leave you," she said. "I know I have too, but I don't know if I can."

Bella lifts her arms to hug her back. She looks up at the sky were the clouds glow darkly in the moonlight and she turns to Alice's ear. "You can stay if you want," she whispers. "It's okay. I don't mind."

Alice shakes her head, clutching Bella tightly. "I can't. You don't really want me too. You're just scared."

"No," Bella whispers. "I'm not afraid of you, Alice. I used to be but I'm not anymore. Because deep down I think I do truly believe that you don't want to hurt me. And even if you did…"

Even if she did…

.

The next morning Bella woke alone. She sat up in bed and she was holding the covers to her chest because she wasn't wearing anything underneath.


	9. Chapter 8: Scream

**AN: Just a quick note. I've changed the rating of this fic to M due to the content of this chapter. So consider this a warning. I try to avoid mentioning explicit names of body parts but the content of this chapter is still pretty graphic.**

Chapter 8: Scream

Bella's shower that morning was a peculiar affair. She stood under the water, washing herself with her hands and the cheap soap that Charlie buys. Her body felt weird to the touch, as if she'd never touched it before. Memories of what they did last night, her and Alice, swam through her mind. Memories of Alice's hands and lips. And the feel of her cold body under Bella's own hands. Bella raised her face to the streaming water, her eyes closed. She wondered if it was possible to not only fall in love but turn gay as well all in one night. But to be honest she didn't want to think of herself with either word. All her life the word gay had been an insult, something you'd call someone when you wanted to be mean, so she didn't want to think of herself like that. And the word love… maybe the word love was even worse. It was too serious, too meaningful. Bella didn't want to love anyone, boy or girl.

She drove to school that morning in a state of weird excitement that might've been part dread. She wondered what Alice was going to do when they saw each other, what she was going to say. She wondered what exactly Alice was supposed to be to her. Stalker, lab partner, one night stand. She remembered at the mall Alice had introduced her as her girlfriend, but was that true? It that how it worked? Could you call someone your girlfriend and suddenly they are? And what did Alice think of her? Girlfriend? Victim? Sport?

All morning she wondered and wondered, but by the time she got to school the matter was cleared up. Alice was waiting for her in the parking lot, standing by the silver Volvo along with several other Cullens. Jasper was there and Emmett and Rosalie, but as Bella pulled up she only saw Alice. Their eyes met through the windshield and Alice grinned widely and then she started striding over to Bella's truck. The parking lot was packed with kids who were just standing around, dawdling before class, and some of them glanced at Alice as she went. She strode with a deliberate step, weaving around the parked cars, not taking her eyes from Bella's truck. She had the air of someone who was on her way to do something shocking and so she was.

The butterflies in Bella's stomach had flared. Even she had a bad feeling about Alice's strut. She got out the truck and shut the door and by now Alice was almost upon her. She turned to her, tugging at the strap of her backpack, and she was about to say hey but Alice had another greeting in mind. She pushed Bella up against the truck and leaned into her and took her face in both hands and pulled her down into a scorching kiss.

The parking lot fell silent. Everyone stared. "What the fuck?" someone said.

Bella hadn't closed her eyes, they sort of froze wildly. When Alice pulled back she blinked.

"Hey baby," Alice said breathlessly. Her body was still pressed up against Bella's and her lips were maybe an inch away and her hands were holding Bella's neck. She gazed into her face lovingly. "Did you sleep well?"

Bella glanced about the parking lot. Most people looked away uncomfortably, but some were staring and some grinning. She looked at Alice. "Huh?"

"Did you sleep well? You looked so peaceful when I left last night."

"Uh, yeah. I slept okay."

"Good," Alice grinned, stepping back. She took Bella's hand. "Come on, I'll walk you to your locker."

They crossed the lot hand in hand. Bella glanced at the Cullen's and saw different reactions. Jasper was smiling softly, and Emmett was grinning. Rosalie had her arms crossed and a scowl on her face. Bella looked at Alice and saw she was smiling. Bella herself didn't know what to do. She knew that moving from Phoenix to Forks would mean some changes in her life, but wasn't this just a bit too much?

In the halls it was worse, especially when they bumped into people Bella knew. When they got to her locker Bella felt like crawling into it and never coming out. She opened it and looked inside blankly. She couldn't remember what classes she had. Alice smiled. "You're locker smells nice," she said.

Bella looked at her.

"It smells like you, only not so strong. It smells like paper too, and paper smells nice."

"Oh," Bella said. It was the first they'd spoken since going inside.

They fell silent. They stood there at the open locker. "Listen Bella," Alice said. "I wanted to apologize for not being there when you woke up."

"It's okay."

"I really wanted to stay, but your scent was too much. I didn't want to hurt you…"

Bella shrugged. "It's okay," she repeated. She put her backpack in the locker and closed it. She turned to Alice. They were standing very close and even though they weren't touching, people still glanced at them suspiciously.

Alice smiled and tilted her head. "This is all too quick for you isn't it?"

"A little."

"I'm sorry. But I've been waiting so long. You have no idea what it's like for me, Bella."

Bella looked at her. She sighed and shrugged. "I understand. It's my scent, right? You don't have a choice about how you feel about me."

"No," Alice said. "I don't. But I'd like to think that I would've fallen for you even if I was just a regular human."

Bella shrugged again. "I better get to home room."

"Okay. Can I walk you?"

Bella chuckled, shaking her head. "I don't know why you even ask. You've already taken me this far."

Alice smiled and took her hand. "Sorry," she said. "But like you said. I'm as choiceless in this as you."

They went through the corridors hand in hand. Angela and Jessica were standing outside the door to home room chatting but they stopped chatting when Bella and Alice came up. They glanced at the clasped hands, frowned, and looked away.

"I'll see you later, okay?" Alice said, placing a kiss on Bella's lips.

"Okay," Bella said. "Bye."

Alice smiled and let Bella's hand slip from her own. Then she turned and left, pausing only to toss a wink over her shoulder.

Jessica watched the display with an expression of disgust, and she wasn't the only one. "Since when are you a dyke?" she snorted.

Bella didn't answer. She turned and leaned against the wall.

Angela looked at her sympathetically. "What happened to that guy you were talking about? Jake?"

But Bella seemed not to even hear. Angela and Jessica looked at her and then looked at each other. Bella didn't speak to them and they didn't speak to her. When the teacher came they went inside and Angela and Jessica took seats where there was no room for Bella. Bella went and sat by herself at the window.

Between classes her path often crossed with Alice and by lunchtime they were both standing in line at the cafeteria with their trays. The rumor had been well circulated by now but Bella had almost stopped caring.

"So whatcha getting?" Alice asked, as they shuffled along the line.

"I don't know," Bella said. Her tray was empty. "I'm not really hungry."

"Let's get the same thing, okay? Wouldn't that be cool?"

Bella smiled and shook her head. "Sure, Alice. Cool."

Alice giggled and put a sandwich on Bella's tray and an identical one on her own. At the end of the line they turned and surveyed the place.

Bella looked over at her usual table. Angela looked uncomfortable and wouldn't meet her eyes. Lauren saw her and smirked. She said something to the others and they laughed.

Alice looked over at her usual table too. Edward and Rosalie were glaring at her. Emmett shrugged as if to apologize for them. Jasper gave her a small smile, but he seemed to know that Alice wouldn't be coming over.

In the end Bella and Alice went and sat at a table by themselves. They sat side by side, not opposite, and talked about their date yesterday. Bella was a little reticent to begin with but Alice soon had her smiling.

In biology Alice shifted her stool closer to Bella. They took turns bending to the microscope and while the teacher lectured they wrote each other messages in the back of Alice's notebook.

_Do you want to hang out after school?_

_ok_

_Your place?_

_ok_

_Do you want to study?_

_ok_

Alice grinned at the string of replies. She wrote: _Do you wanna makeout?_

Bella looked at the note. She looked at Alice. She leaned and wrote: _ok_

They drove back to Bella's place in Bella's truck. They went up to Bella's room and sat cross legged on the bed with a pile of textbooks between them. They tried to study but they kept looking up and their eyes kept catching. Alice smiled and laid aside her notebook. She placed her pen on top of it and then she crawled over to Bella on all fours, her shoulders rolling like a cat, a sultry look to her eyes. Bella didn't move, her heart pounding. Alice took the notebook from Bella's lap and plucked the pen from Bella's hand and she laid them aside also. Bella met her eyes. Alice smiled and took Bella's face in her hands and kissed her. Bella let her eyes fall shut. Alice laid her head on the pillow and straddled her lap and wove her fingers in her hair and kissed her.

Alice came to her in the night and soon they were laying in each other's arms under the covers. Alice's cold and naked body was snuggled up against Bella's and their legs were entwined. They whispered back and forth in the darkness and every now and then Alice would kiss Bella's bare shoulder or lick it. Bella fell asleep with Alice playing with her hair and in the morning she woke alone, Alice stolen away into the night long before sunrise for fear of being overcome by the thirst.

.

Bella never called Jake back. She was going to, and she even picked up the phone one time, but before she dialed she hung up. She had nothing to say to him. Charlie said that he had called while Bella was in Seattle with Alice but he hadn't called since. Bella hoped he wasn't too disappointed.

Tuesday morning Alice was, as always, waiting for her in the parking lot and again they walked the corridors hand in hand. At Bella's locker Alice pulled her into a kiss. A group of guys were grinning at them and nudging each other with their elbows and one them had his cellphone out to take a picture. Alice spied this over Bella's shoulder as she pulled back from the kiss, and she went over to the boy and snatched the cellphone from him and broke it in half and dropped it to the floor and kicked the pieces at him. "Punk," she spat, then she turned to Bella with her usual radiant smile and linked their arms and they strolled off to home room. The boy bent to pick up the pieces of his phone and his friends laughed at him.

After school they went and saw a movie. They drove in Bella's truck and went among the posters holding hands. There was nothing that particularly interested them and in the end they went and saw some miscellaneous romantic comedy. It actually wasn't that bad. They were sitting in the back row, well secluded in the mostly empty theater, and less than ten minutes past the previews Alice had wrapped her arm around Bella and drawn her close. While they watched they whispered, cuddled up in the back row, smiling in the flickering light of the movie. About an hour in Alice kissed Bella's earlobe gently and Bella turned and raised her lips to meet Alice's.

Alice came to her again in the night and in the morning Bella woke to find her rummaging through her drawers and sniffing at her clothes. When Alice noticed she was awake she jumped into her bed and told Bella all about the outfit she'd laid out for her. They went for a shower together and Alice washed Bella's hair and her back, rubbing against her all soapy and slippery, placing little kisses wherever the impulse took her. When they were done they stepped dripping onto the tiles and Alice toweled Bella dry and she blowdryed her hair and brushed it and downstairs she made her breakfast and in the end they wound up driving to school together in Bella's truck.

Bella's first class was calculus. She'd forgotten her textbook and the teacher sent her out to go get it. Dawdling in the hallways, a dazed look about her. At her locker she held the lock and tried to remember her combination but she couldn't right away. During lunch she ate with Alice's arm around her waist and Alice's head resting on her shoulder. They drew disgusted looks but Bella was beyond caring. By the time school let out it was raining. They left Bella's truck in the parking lot and walked, strolling through the puddles on the sidewalk with their hair stuck to their faces and the rain dripping from their clasped hands. When they got home they peeled out of their soaked clothes and fooled around on Bella's bed. Alice left afterward but she hadn't been gone a full hour before Bella's cellphone rang. After dinner Bella told Charlie she was having an early night. Alice was already up there. Bella flipped off the light and stepped into her arms and they kissed and tumbled into bed.

The incident of Alice's fit of temper on the cellphone had been overlooked, primarily because of the owner's reluctance to make a big deal out of it, but on Thursday there was new trouble. Bella and Alice were passing through the cafeteria toward an empty table when a murmured slur from a table of mean-looking girls bought Alice to a halt. An altercation ensued. Alice demanded which of them had spoken. A thin and pretty blonde owned it with a smirk and went on to remark on the grossness of their relationship and how it was no wonder they were both lesbians because neither of them could attract a guy anyway. Alice had started to say something back but Bella tugged on her arm and led her away. The girl's giggled and sent them off with a few more insults. Bella led Alice to the empty table and they laid down their trays and sat, but within seconds Alice was on her feet again. She went and got a carton of chocolate milk, passing the blonde's table on the way, and on her way back she opened the carton and poured it over the blonde's head. The blonde was on her feet, shrieking as if it where acid. Alice slapped her silent. The room went quiet. The blonde slumped over and fell to the floor. Even the teachers were stunned at the brutality of the slap but then one of them strode across the room with alarming alacrity and seized Alice's arm and led her away. Bella rose and hurried after them.

Alice and the blonde were suspended for a week. Parents were notified. The school councilor called Charlie at work and told him over the phone that his daughter was a homosexual and that her girlfriend had been suspended for assaulting another student and that Bella had left school grounds with said girlfriend midway through class and perhaps he ought to discuss the matter with Bella herself because from all indications it didn't seem like her current relationship was a healthy one. Charlie was shocked. He asked if it was Bella Swan and not some other Bella. The councilor confirmed and then went on to mention that Bella hadn't handed in a piece of homework since her first week of school and her latest exam was submitted blank and if she continued this way she would likely fail several subjects if not all of them.

The next day Bella skipped school. Alice picked her up in the morning in her yellow Porsche and they drove for hours up into the mountains, winding up the switchbacks with the pale clouds rolling in the distance. They parked at an empty outlook and they stood at the iron railing with their arms around each other's waists and looked out over the valley. Lush and green. The mountains in the distance were taller than the clouds and the peaks broke through the white mist and sat floating in midair like islands in the sky.

Alice had prepared a picnic basket and she carried it in one hand as they set off down the hiking trail. They were walking about half an hour before Alice charted them a new course that led into the wilderness, through the knee high grass and moss covered trees. The wind was calm but it was cold. Bella was wearing jeans and a jacket and heavyduty boots, but Alice was wearing a pale blue summerdress of thin cotton that clung prettily to her breasts and waist. They went hand in hand, Bella in her boots, Alice in her sandals. Weaving among the trees with Alice helping Bella over the upturned roots. Birds singing the in branches overhead and insects chirping in the shrubbery. They came to a forest of oak that was overgrown with bluebells and they went hand in hand through that lavender carpet of bellshaped blossoms, treading carefully against the unseen roots and branches that lay in their path. Overhead the sun had come out and they went on with Alice passing through light and shadow, sparkling and fading, and they went on among the gnarled trunks with leaves falling like rain from the branches and twirling and fluttering like stricken butterflies to the dark forest floor.

They paused to rest at a mountain stream. Alice sat on the bank and trailed a hand in the cool clear water and Bella sat on a rock watching her. The trees thinned by the stream and Alice sat in the sunlight with her legs tucked daintily and the long ivory lengths of them sparkling magnificently. There were trout in the stream and one of them stood on it's fin in the current and looked directly at Alice with an expression of fishy perplexion. Alice giggled at it and it went away. Then she looked at Bella. She had been smiling but when she saw the earnest way Bella was staring at her she stopped smiling. They stared at each other for a minute and then Alice giggled and hopped to her feet and dusted her skirt with a couple swipes of her hand. Bella stood also. The stream was barely knee-deep but Alice carried her across anyway, scooping her up into her sparkling arms bridal-style and stepping into the cool water, traversing gracefully the slippery stones beneath in her heeled sandals and setting Bella down on the far bank with a quick kiss, before recrossing the stream once more to fetch the picnic basket.

At last they came out onto the edge of a bluff that overlooked the steppe to the west. It was past noon and the sun was burning high and bright into the sky. There were wildflowers dotted about and pollen hung in the air like a golden haze. Alice set down the picnic basket and stepped to the edge and breathed in. Bella stepped up beside her and looked over the edge. She had a sudden sensation of vertigo and her vision blurred for a second before clearing. It occurred to her that she could fall and plummet to her death and if she did would anyone care? Would she?

Behind her Alice was spreading a red woolen blanket in the grass. She knelt and flipped open the picnic basket but Bella put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. Alice glanced up questioningly, her pretty face sparkling in the sun. Bella took her hand and raised her to her feet. They gazed into each other's eyes for a moment, Bella holding Alice by the shoulders, and then Bella leaned forward and rubbed her forehead against Alice's. The tips of their noses touched. They gazed into each other's eyes. Bella leaned in and kissed her very slowly and deliberately. Then she slid the straps of Alice's dress from her shoulders, one then the other, and the dress dropped and pooled at her feet.

Alice wore nothing underneath. No bra, no panties. Her nipples were a pale pink and she was lightly furred and every inch of her skin sparkled in the sunlight, shimming, glittering. A beauty so vibrant it struggled to maintain physical shape. A beauty to make your eyes water.

They made love together on the blanket. Two pale forms writhing under the sun like storybook vampires exposed to day. When they were done Alice snuggled up against Bella's warmth and pulled half of the blanket over them. They lay in silence. Alice was tracing a pattern with her fingertip on Bella's breast and after a while Bella realized she was writing her name, Bella, Bella, Bella.

"Bella," Alice said gently, propping up on an elbow. "Do you love me?"

Bella looked at her, at that serene and sparkling face, and suddenly her heart swelled and almost burst with the sudden rush of love she felt. "Yes," she said. "Of course I love you, Alice."

Alice smiled radiantly and lowered her head to Bella's shoulder and snuggled into her. "Good," she said. "But I want to hear you say it more often, okay?"

Bella wrapped her arms around her. "Okay," she whispered. "I'll say it everyday."

They lay there for a long time, until Bella started shivering and Alice made her get dressed. Alice started to get dressed too but Bella asked her if she'd stay naked. She liked to watch her sparkle.

They stayed until sunset. Alice lay back between Bella's open legs, Bella's arms around her waist under the cool globes of her breasts, and they sat there on the blanket in silence and watched the red demise of the day, watching the crimson clouds drain away into the distant valley like blood, out there where the birds rose flapping in dark silhouette against the vermillion sky and where the first of the night's stars could be seen twinkling in the smoky void beyond.

That night Alice crawled through her window and into her bed and directly the darkness was filled with Bella's gentle moans and cries. It was pitch black and in that blackness Alice ceased to be a girl or a vampire or a stalker, she ceased to be any tangible thing at all. She became a dream or a nightmare, something cold and smooth come in from a night, a pale shedemon who hungered for her flesh and would have it. Bella slept and woke to the sound of the window opening. It was almost morning and in the pale light she could see Alice crouched in the window frame.

She sat up, holding the covers to her chest. "Are you going?"

Alice smiled sadly. Her eyes were black. "I have to, Bella. I have to hunt."

"Okay."

"Go back to sleep. I'll be back before you wake up."

"Okay."

Alice smiled and blew her a kiss. Bella blew one back. Alice went to climb out the window.

"Alice!"

Alice stopped and looked over her shoulder. "Yes?"

Bella smiled coyly. "I love you."

At first Alice looked surprised. Then she smiled and tossed her chin suavely. "Back at you, sweetstuff."

Then she climbed out and shut the window and disappeared. Bella sat in her bed and sighed. She lay back down and closed her eyes. She slept and she dreamed a dream where she wandered in a dark and misty forest and where Alice came to her blackeyed and bloody mouthed from the shadowed treeline and where under a hundred stars her life was taken in a ravenous embrace that left her broken and lifeless and utterly drained. She woke gasping. Alice was sitting on the edge of the bed and she was stroking Bella's hair. "Bad dream?" she asked softly.

Bella's heart was pounding but it wasn't fear. Sweat stood on her forehead and there was a deep throbbing between her legs. She looked at Alice, at that pretty face she'd come to love. "No," she said breathlessly. "I don't think so."

.

Charlie hadn't even grounded Bella. He'd never had to punish her in her life, and after the call from the councilor he'd been more shocked than anything. He wasn't angry or even disappointed. He had such an unshakable faith in his daughter that he was willing to give her every benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately, Bella had no explanations to give. When he finally got to talk to her all she would do was shrug and murmur quietly that she didn't know. The only thing she seemed certain about was that she loved Alice and that it wasn't Alice's fault.

Charlie and Bella's relationship had proceeded pretty much the same as before. Bella cooked and they ate together. Charlie treated her like something fragile, a mental patient perhaps. He seemed to be afraid of making things worse. What concerned him most was the suddenness of the change. Bella had never skipped school in her life till that day. She'd always been bright and diligent with her studies. She'd never opposed her parents either, and yet now she was saying right to Charlie's face that she wouldn't be going back to school until Alice did. And there was no tantrums and no tears. She mentioned it almost apologetically, like she had no choice. That worried Charlie. And what worried him even more was that he had no idea how to fix the situation. He just hoped she wasn't on drugs.

He'd always thought Alice was a nice kid. He was of two minds now. At the very least she was a bad influence. A very bad influence. The fact that she was a girl only made it worse. Charlie didn't have a problem with gay people on principle, but when it came to his only daughter he was wary of any kind of unnecessary complications. Confusion is a bad thing for anyone, but the worst thing for a teenager. He wanted Bella to stop seeing her and on Saturday morning he was planning to discuss it with her first thing. He wanted Bella to stay home and study. He felt that would be a good first step to get her life back on track. But as he came down the stairs that morning he could hear voices in the kitchen and he frowned darkly.

Bella and Alice were sitting at the kitchen table. Bella was still in her sleep clothes but Alice was fully dressed. They both had a cellphone in their hands and they looked to be texting back and forth even though they were sitting right next to each other. Bella was eating a bowl of cereal with her free hand and when Charlie came in they both looked up.

Charlie frowned at Alice. "You're not welcome in this house," he said.

Alice smiled. She looked at Bella, she looked at Charlie. "Bella says I am."

"I want you out of here. Now."

Alice sighed and pushed back her chair. She moved over to Bella and leaned to whisper in her ear. Then she smelled her hair.

Charlie looked away in disgust. Alice left wordlessly. Both Bella and Charlie heard the front door open and close.

They wouldn't meet each other's eyes. Bella rose with her cereal bowl and tipped the rest of it in the sink. Alice would be waiting for her in her room and she didn't want to keep her waiting.

"Sit down, Bella," Charlie said. "I want to talk to you."

"I have to go get dressed."

"You can get dressed later. Sit down."

"I have to go." Bella reached for the cellphone that lay on the table.

Charlie saw her and suddenly he reached out and snatched it. He had the idea that there might be proof in the phone, something he could use to warn Bella against the evils of Alice's as a girlfriend. He started cycling through the texts, Bella looking on with her arms folded, but there was nothing. No mention of drugs or wild parties or boyfriends on the side or anything like that. There was twenty four texts in total and all of them were simply variations of the phrase I love you. Different spellings, different punctuation. The word love spelt luv, the word you spelt with just a u. Exclamation points. X's and O's. Emicons. Smiley faces, winks.

"Can I have it back?" Bella asked.

Charlie frowned. "No. I'm confiscating it. I don't want you to see this girl anymore, Bella."

"Give me my cellphone, Charlie. Alice'll just buy me a new one anyway."

Suddenly Charlie's temper flared. He reared back and threw the phone at the wall. It hit with a thunk and clattered to the linoleum. Bella jumped.

"I mean it, Bella," Charlie growled. "You're grounded until further notice, and I don't want you to see that girl anymore. I've tried to be understanding, but this just isn't healthy. For either of you."

But Bella was hardly listening. She went over and picked up the phone. In the movies it would've shattered for effect, but it was ruined all the same. The screen was cracked and it wasn't turned on anymore. "This was a present," she said absently.

Charlie looked away. For the first time in his life he was disgusted with his daughter.

Bella turned around. "I'm sorry dad, but you couldn't understand. Alice isn't a typical highschool boyfriend. She's something else."

Charlie shook his head. "You hardly know the girl, Bells. And you're just a kid. You don't even know what love is."

"Romeo and Juliet barely knew each other. And Juliet was only thirteen."

"It's fiction, Bella. And look how they ended up."

Bella shrugged, a ghost of a smile about her lips. "Maybe me and Alice will end up the same way. And that's the point. That's how much we love each other."

When she went upstairs she found Alice laying on her bed with her face buried in her pillow. The sight stopped her short and a wave of love washed over her. She smiled and closed the door. Alice sat up and hugged the pillow to her chest. "Everything okay?" Alice asked.

"Yeah. He wants me to stop seeing you."

Alice giggled and laid aside the pillow. "Well," she said. She rose to her feet and took Bella's waist in her hands. "I want to drink your blood but we don't always get what we want, do we?"

They left by the window. Bella had gotten changed and packed a few things in her backpack, her school stuff tipped out on the floor. She didn't shower but Alice said she could shower at the motel room. Alice climbed out first and Bella tossed down the backpack. Alice caught it and slung it over her shoulder and then Bella herself climbed out the window. She jumped and Alice caught her bridal-style and they giggled and kissed and then Alice turned and carried Bella off into the woods.

Later Charlie would knock at Bella's door. There would be no answer and he'd try again in a couple hours. When he got no answer that time, he opened the door and went in. He stood in the doorway with an unreadable expression. He saw Bella's school stuff on the floor. He saw the open window, the curtains fluttering in wind. The broken lock. He lowered his head and ran a hand through his hair. Then he went downstairs and called Renee and told her she better get down here because their daughter is in a whole heap of trouble.

.

They had in mind a quiet evening. Alice originally had all kinds of extravagant ideas—including a chartered flight to New York to catch the opera—but Bella just wanted to relax and Alice just wanted Bella to be happy. Besides, she'd already seen the opera.

Alice booked the motel room herself, a remote place off the edge of town called The Eagle. Bella showered and dressed while Alice went and got her car and they spent the rest of the morning shopping, strolling from store to store, just looking mostly. By and by they ended up in a dusty little clothing shop that carried clothes that used to be trendy but weren't anymore. The change room was just a curtained off cubicle in the back. Alice went in with a pair of men's jeans and a hockey-shirt and a baseball cap and when she came out Bella looked at her and smiled. The jeans were so baggy on her that they looked like denim culottes and the hockey-shirt fell loosely past her hips. The baseball cap was the only thing that fit and she wore it tilted at a rakish angle and Bella thought she looked insanely cute.

"What do you think?" Alice asked, with a girlish twirl.

Bella grinned. "You look like a boy."

In the afternoon they went to the video store and roamed the shelves hand in hand. They rented a bunch of vampire movies just for fun and went back to the motel. When it was dinner time Alice sent Bella to the motel dinning room with instructions for her to stay there for at least an hour. Bella sat eating, watching the clock. It got dark outside. When an hour had passed she went back to the room and knocked gently. Alice opened the door and Bella smiled. The room was filled with candles. The candles were red wax and there was a silver candelabra on the sideboard and rows of silver candle holders along the empty bookshelves and in the center of the coffeetable a large scented candle sat smoking gently. Alice stepped aside and Bella entered grinning. The room was bathed in a soft orange light there were vases of blooming roses everywhere and the bed and the floor were covered in rose petals.

Bella turned to Alice smiling. "I knew you were going to do something like this."

"Oh this?" Alice said flippantly, swinging shut the door. "This is nothing. The real surprise is the lingerie I'm about to go put on."

Before anything Bella was ushered into the shower. Alice washed her with a teasing chasteness, her touch gentle and restrained. When they got out Alice toweled her dry and dried her hair and then she led her back into the room and sat her on the edge of the bed and kissed her and told her to wait right there. Then she disappeared back into the bathroom.

Bella sat among the rose petals, her knees pressed together, wringing her hands in her lap. She was biting her lip and her heart was racing. She could smell the roses and the rose scented candle on the coffeetable and there was a noticeable warmth to the room from the tiny flames that burned all around her. She knew what Alice was doing in the bathroom and she knew what Alice was going to do when she came out and she was giddy with anticipation. Anxiously she took one of the roses from the vase on the coffeetable and put it too her nose and sniffed it. It was half-bloomed and beautiful. She looked at the bathroom door. Her heart was throbbing inside her and she was about to call out if Alice was done but then the doorknob turned and the bathroom door opened.

Alice came sauntering into the room in a roll of hips, a sexy smirk on her face. She wore a black lace bra and a black lace thong and a black lace garter and all these lacy things had little lavender ribbons on them. The stockings she wore were black and smooth and she wore black lace gloves that were fingerless and black lace armbands and her face was dusted with blush and her lips were painted purple and her eyes were shadowed a dusky lavender.

Bella's mouth fell open, sitting there holding the half-bloomed rose. Alice came up and lifted Bella's mouth closed with an index finger under her chin and she took the rose from her and tossed it aside and then she took Bella's face in her hands and kissed her. Bella's nipples puckered instantly. Alice pushed into her and Bella moved backward to accommodate, sliding back over the covers in a wake of rosepetals, until Alice had her pushed up against the headboard. Bella opened her mouth and Alice's tongue came darting in and while they were kissing one of Alice's gloved hands reached underneath the pillow and came up with a pair of fluffy pink handcuffs.

Bella had her eyes closed. She didn't even know what was going on until one of the handcuff's bracelets clicked shut around her wrist. She pulled back from the kiss and looked up wildly and felt a flutter of delicious panic as Alice threaded the cuffs around one of the iron bars of the headboard and clicked shut the other bracelet around the other wrist.

"Alice!" Bella hissed, laying naked with her hand bounds to the headboard above her. "Alice, what are you doing!"

Alice straddled Bella's waist and smirked down at her. "I'm handcuffing you, my dear."

Bella's mouth fell open. Alice leaned down and slipped her tongue into it. Bella's eyes fluttered shut and she moaned in pleasure and she went to put her arms around the body on top of her but she couldn't because her hands were cuffed.

At some point Bella passed out. One orgasm too many. When it happened Alice was on top of her between her legs, rubbing the rough lace of her panties against the soft and furry mound between Bella's thighs, grinding and thrusting up against it with her back arched and her face averted to the ceiling, moaning and panting. With tears in her eyes Bella had begged Alice to stop without really wanting her too and she screamed and hyperventilated and then she passed out. And still Alice didn't stop, not even with Bella gone limp beneath her. She grinded and grinded until her own release came and then she took a deep breath and ran her hands through her hair. She smiled down at Bella where she lay naked with her legs spread and her hands cuffed to the headboard, so pale and vulnerable, so beautiful. The key to the cuffs was tucked into the wrist of her black lace gloves and Alice retrieved it and leaned over the prone form of her girlfriend to unlock them. The key was tiny and brass and it had a handle shaped like a loveheart. The cuffs clicked open and Bella's pale arms wilted either side of her like broken lilies.

Alice dismounted and tucked Bella's legs together and pulled the covers over her. She sat at her side and stroked her damp and matted hair, watching her suddenly peaceful face. She cupped Bella's cheek and felt the warmth of it. She brushed the ball of her thumb over Bella's lips. So soft. She touched those lips with her fingertips and then she eased one of her fingers into Bella's mouth, gently passed her teeth, inside her mouth were it was so warm and wet. Alice sighed and then she withdrew the finger and slipped it into her own mouth for a moment. Then she rose from the bed and went into the bathroom to get changed. When Bella woke up Alice wanted to surprise her with a bottle of champagne.

By the time Bella woke up almost all the candles had burnt out except for the scented one of the coffeetable. Her eyes fluttered open and the first thing she saw was Alice sitting beside her, totally naked, smiling in the pale orange light of the candle, a sinister and sexy figure. "Hey," Bella said. "What happened to your clothes?"

Alice giggled. "Took them off. Sticky."

"Oh. Was I asleep long?"

"No. Less than an hour."

"I'm so thirsty."

"Yes. Sit up."

Bella sat up. The covers slipped from her naked breasts and pooled in her lap. On the side board there was a bottle of champagne and two champagne flutes. There was also a glass of water. Alice handed Bella the water and Bella took it with one hand and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear with the other and lifted the glass and drank.

Alice watched her, smiling. "You passed out. I would've been worried if I wasn't so proud."

Bella blushed and sipped her water.

"How do you feel?"

"I'm okay. My head hurts, though."

Alice giggled. "Yes. Multiple orgasms will do that to you."

Bella drained the glass and passed it back. "Thanks," she said. "Where'd you get the champagne?"

"I don't know," Alice said, reaching for the bottle. "The store. I thought it would be nice."

"I've never had champagne before."

Alice giggled, tearing away the foil from the bottleneck. "It's seems I'm introducing you to a lot of first's, hm?"

She pushed the cork with her thumb and it popped and went whizzing away into the darkness. A jet of white foam spilled from the bottleneck onto the covers. Alice passed Bella one of the champagne flutes and filled it and then she filled her own and set the bottle back on the sideboard.

"You're having some too?"

"Just a sip," Alice said. "Or else it won't be a proper toast."

"What are we toasting?"

"Each other, of course. What else?"

Bella smiled dreamily and lifted the glass. "Okay then. Here's to us."

"To us."

Alice clinked her flute to Bella's. Bella sipped. The bubbles tickled her nose.

Alice sipped and winced. "Eww," she said. "I hate human stuff."

Bella giggled. "I like it."

"I'm glad, but all the same I'd love it if you'd sip a little quicker so we can get back to having sex."

Bella giggled again and tipped back the glass and gulped it. The bubbles made her eyes water and she squeezed them shut, holding out the flute for Alice to take.

Alice grinned and took it and placed it on the sideboard along with her own. "That's better," she said. "Now… where we're we before you passed out?"

Alice went to kiss her but Bella pushed her away. She blinked her watery eyes. "I have to pee."

Alice groaned and fell against her. "You and your human needs," she muttered. "Okay, go on. But if you don't get back quick I'm going to start without you."

Bella giggled. She hopped off the edge of the bed but her legs were so weak she almost fell over. Alice giggled at her and Bella blushed and went tiptoeing carefully to the bathroom.

She went inside and closed the door. She didn't turn on the light. There was a high window above the toilet and the motel lights outside lit the room dimly. Bella looked in the mirror. Her eyes were lidded and her hair mussed. She noticed bite marks on her throat and some on her breasts. She bent over and saw there was some on the insides of her thighs too. She was pretty sure there was some on her butt as well, but she had no way of checking. She sighed and leaned on the sink and she looked up into her shadowy reflection. She swung her head slightly, as if the different angle might reveal things otherwise unseen. That same old floating feeling was in her chest but there was something else too. She dipped her eyes. Then she turned away and lifted the toilet lid and sat.

When she came out she found that Alice had indeed started without her. She lay in the center of the bed with her legs spread like butterfly wings and she was moaning and touching herself. Bella watched for a moment. Then she moved over to the coffeetable and blew out the sole remaining candle. Darkness descended in that little room and Bella climbed onto the bed and crawled into the eagerly awaiting arms of her lover.

They made love and drank champagne and made love some more. They lay in each others arms and whispered in the dark about how much they loved each other. Then they talked of other things.

"Alice," Bella whispered. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, Bella."

"I was just wondering… How come I'm still a virgin?"

Alice didn't reply.

"I know that… figuratively speaking, I was deflowered on our first date… But technically I'm still… intact. How come you haven't done it?"

"The blood, Bella," Alice whispered. "I wouldn't be able to control myself."

"There's no guarantee that I'll bleed, Alice. And even if I did, it wouldn't be much."

"You don't understand, Bella. Just one drop is all it takes. Even a paper cut would be too much. That's the true reason why our relationship is so dangerous. That's why my family is so disapproving. I can fool myself because I'm in love with you, but they can see it clearly. And they know that sooner or later something very bad's going to happen."

"I trust you, Alice."

"You shouldn't. I don't trust myself, but I'm too selfish to put you first. I know I'll never be able to live without you, but sometimes I think I'd be willing go to my death if I could just take you with me…"

They fell silent. They lay with their heads on the same pillow, their arms around each other, their legs entwined.

"I never had any expectations about my first time," Bella said. "I always thought I'd just take whatever came, but now… I can't help but fantasize. I want it to be you, Alice. I want you to mark me. I want you to make me yours."

"I can't, Bella, please don't ask me to do what I can't."

"It's okay, Alice. I trust you. And even if you did lose control…"

"Bella, stop."

"You said it was just a matter of time anyway. Till something bad happens. But why does it have to be bad? It could be so perfect."

"Please, Bella, just stop."

"No. I want you to do it, Alice. I don't care if I don't survive the night. I want you to do it. I need you to do it."

"You're drunk, Bella. Just be quiet."

"I'm not drunk. I'm in love. I love you, Alice. I love you more than I ever thought it could be possible to love someone. But it's just words. I need to prove it. I feel like my heart's going to burst if I can't prove it."

"Go to sleep, Bella. You don't know what you're saying."

"I know exactly what I'm saying. I want to you take my virginity, Alice. That's what I want you to do."

"Please, Bella."

"I want to prove how much I love you. I want to give you my virginity. I want to give you my life. I want you to kill me, Alice. I want you to drink my blood and kill me. I want to belong to you completely and utterly…"

"No!"

Suddenly the covers fluttered and Alice scrambled out of the bed. She started pacing up and down the room, her chest heaving. The only light was the motel lights in the parking lot faintly glowing through the curtains. Bella sat up in the bed and watched.

"You can't say things like that, Bella. Please. I can resist anything accept your consent. Don't tell me it's okay to bite you, tell me anything but that."

"But I do want you to bite me."

"No. You're just drunk."

"Why are you getting so upset, Alice?"

"I don't want to hurt you, Bella. I can't live without you."

Bella smiled and swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. "It's okay, Alice. You only think you can't live without me, but you'll be okay."

"No. I have plans for us, Bella. I'm going to turn you into a vampire one day. We'll be together forever. So please, don't spoil everything now."

"Oh, Alice," Bella sighed, coming forward. She put her arms around Alice and held her. She whispered in her ear. "It's just my scent you're attracted too. You've just confused it for love because you don't want to be a monster."

"No…"

"Yes. But it's okay. I know you're not a monster. Maybe it's not love what you feel for me, but it's special too."

"Bella, stop."

"It became clear to me yesterday, during our picnic in the mountains. When I was watching you sparkle. I thought; she's so perfect. What does she want with me? I'm a just a human. And that's the truth. You talk about a future together, Alice, but there is no future. I'm nothing. I have nothing to offer you except my blood."

"That's not true, Bella. I don't want to hurt you. I'm not a murderer."

"It's not murder, Alice. The strong eat the weak. It's natural. There's even a dignity in it. Even cows line up to be slaughtered."

"You're not a cow, Bella. Listen to yourself."

"But am I really so different? I eat, I sleep. I walk around. My mother always said I was special, but I'm not. I'm nothing. I was always nothing, but then I met you. And now I am something. I'm yours. Take me, Alice. Make me yours."

"No. I refuse to believe that you're destined to be nothing more than my victim."

Bella sighed and rubbed her neck against Alice's mouth. "It's okay, Alice. I should thank you for being so patient with me. You should've done it back in that first biology class. But you didn't. And you were right. It wouldn't have been perfect then. It's perfect now. I want you to do it, Alice. I want you to do it so bad…"

Alice's head rolled back. She opened her mouth and leaned to Bella's neck.

"Do it, Alice…" Bella whispered.

Alice went to bite her. But she stopped. She stopped and she shrieked and she grabbed Bella by the shoulders and flung her away violently and then she clapped her hands to her ears and cried out a howl of such anguish and longing that it seemed she herself did not want to hear it.

Bella was on the floor. She sat up and leaned on the edge of the bed with her elbow. "Alice…"

But Alice had heard enough. And in her sudden rush to get away from Bella she turned and dove head first out of the window and fell the asphalt outside in a shower of broken glass.

"Alice!" Bella cried. She lurched to her feet and stumbled to the window. Alice was still holding her ears, scrambling to her feet with none of her usual grace, scrambling naked in the broken glass, and when she was up she started running toward the woods behind the motel.

There was a shard of glass sticking up from the window frame. Bella looked at it. Then she broke it off and rushed over to the door and tore it open and started running after Alice.

And they are running. Alice lurches and stumbles through the treeline and into the pineforest and Bella is right behind her, running naked and barefoot through the prickly pine needles and damp leaves, running toward certain danger with her tits jiggling like some horror movie bimbo. There is a skein of mist along the forest floor and the night is cool. They run and Bella calls out but Alice doesn't stop. The moon is full and black clouds pass before it in silhouette and they run through the trees and through the wind and Bella screams for Alice to stop, but she doesn't.

They come at last to a forest clearing. Alice is up wind from Bella and she can smell her scent in the wind and she is stumbling now, pale and naked and shambling through the mist like a ghost laboring under some terrible curse. Bella runs up behind her and tackles her to the ground, the two of them tumbling to the pine needles in a flailing of white limbs and girlish cries. Bella rolls her over and straddles her waist and hold down her wrists either side of her head.

"Alice," she says, panting, breathless. "Alice, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I know you don't want to hurt me, but can't you see this is the only way? Look at you. Look at your eyes. How can I live knowing how much you want me and can't have me? I need to do this, Alice."

Bella had dropped the shard of glass. It lies a few feet away and she crawls over and picks it up. She grunts and stumbles to her feet, her leg streaked with dirt, a dead leaf stuck to her buttock. She dusts herself off and turns to Alice and puts the shard of glass to the inside of her wrist.

Alice stands reeling in the wind, her eyes dead black and glazed with hunger. But a sad expression at that. "Don't," she says in a frightened whisper. "Don't make me a monster."

Bella smiles. Pale and naked and unearthly like a being materialized from the mist. Like something that was never meant for this world and must leave it soon. Like something to be blown away in the wind and to be extinguished without any trace of its being there at all. "It's okay, Alice," she says. "You said before that you were selfish in how you feel about me. Well, I'm selfish too. I have to do this. I have to show you how much I love you."

A cold wind blows. The mist swirls and a bird shrieks in the distance. Bella puts the glass to her wrist and with a throbbing heart she begins to press. Alice springs forward. In that moment it is proven that her love is stronger than her hunger for she seizes Bella's hand and wrests the glass from her grip before it can draw blood and the shard drops to the floor and is lost in the mist.

But in the end it didn't matter. Bella sobs and beats a balled fist against Alice. Alice takes her face in her hands and kisses her fiercely and then she turns to flee before the thirst could overcome her but Bella would not let her go. She pulls Alice back and kisses her. Alice pushes her away but Bella kisses her again. Tears are in her eyes and she kisses with a desperate passion as if she might not ever kiss her again. One last time Alice pushes her away but Bella grabs her with both hands and slams their mouths together and Bella's bottom lip splits open against Alice's teeth and her blood gushes into Alice's mouth and suddenly the pact is complete. Nothing can save her now.

At the taste of Bella's blood every tastebud on Alice's tongue contracts at once like a massive orgasm in her mouth. She reels back and moans deep in her throat and she licks her lips and she gazes into Bella's face with eyes blacker than night and Bella stares back with lips that are bleeding and trembling. Alice still looks as if she may yet resist but Bella's heart is resolved. She leans forward and places her bloody lips on Alice's. Alice's eyes fall shut. Her tongue flicks out. Bella takes her by the nape and lowers her into the mist where she lays back in the pine needles and spreads her legs.

The moon is directly overhead. Bella can see it glowing in the night sky where she lays panting and gasping. Bella has Alice's head in her hands and she is pushing it down toward her parted legs. Alice places a kiss on the warm mound there. She takes two fingers and thrusts them in. Bella's back arches and her breath comes in short hitching gasps. Blood trickles from her pale folds. Alice watches as if mesmerized and then she withdraws her fingers and licks them and finally she bends to Bella's bloody entrance and begins to lick and suck and lap up that weeping virginblood like some famished incubus and when the blood runs dry she trails kisses upward over Bella's body until she reaches her neck.

"Is this what you want, Bella?" Alice hisses. She nipped at Bella's neck and made her gasp. "Is this what you want?"

"Yes," Bella whispered. Her arms came around Alice's neck and held her there. "Do it, Alice. I love you."

And Alice did it. She bit into Bella's neck and Bella screamed.


	10. Chapter 9: Forever

**AN: First of all, I have some apologies. I know I hinted at the wolves' involvement with Sam and Jacob in an earlier chapter, and that was supposed to come into play now with Bella bitten, but honestly I think the wolves and the treaty are kinda stupid. Jacob was supposed to be a secondary love interest too, but that didn't work out either, so I've decided to just disregard the wolves entirely. Sorry for the false implications.**

**So just to repeat: the wolves don't exist in this story and there is no treaty. Sorry if people were looking forward to a big vampire/wolf battle but I just don't have any enthusiasm to write it.**

**The other apology is that this is the last chapter. And to make it even worse, it isn't even a very good chapter. In fact, it's probably the worst of the whole story. I'm very disappointed with it, but I just couldn't think of anything else. Sorry if you were expecting this fic to be longer. **

**Anyway, here's the last chapter. The part in italics in the beginning is the final couple lines of the previous chapter, just as a reminder of what happened.**

Chapter 9: Forever

"_Is this what you want, Bella?" Alice hissed. She nipped at Bella's neck and made her gasp. "Is this what you want?"_

"_Yes," Bella whispered. Her arms came around Alice's neck and held her there. "Do it, Alice. I love you."_

_And Alice did it. She bit into Bella's neck and Bella screamed._

.

They lay there in the mist, Bella's arms around Alice's back, Alice's lips at Bella's throat. Bella's carotid artery was pierced and the blood gushed hot and red into Alice's mouth. Alice's arms snaked around Bella's back and she rose her up so that they were sitting in the mist, her face buried in Bella's neck. The blood ran down Bella's throat in a slow seep and soaked her shoulder and naked chest and the blood was a dark purple in the moonlight. "Alice," Bella panted. "Alice."

There was no pain and no pleasure, only numbness. The night was cold and Bella shivered in Alice's cold arms and she could feel herself fading. The feeling was wonderful. It felt like going to sleep, but a sleep from which there would be no waking. Eternal peace in Alice's embrace. When Alice had first bit her there had been a strain about Bella's eyes but now the strain was fading. Finally her eyes fluttered open and she turned her face to Alice's head and rubbed her cheek against it tenderly. "Oh, Alice…" she whispered.

Alice's own eyes fluttered open. She stopped sucking and the blood gushed against her lips and dripped down her chin. Perhaps it Bella's was consent or perhaps it was simply the way that Bella's hand wove into her hair but whatever it was it gave Alice pause. A moment of clarity in the haze of bloodlust. It reminded her of how much she prized the warmth of the girl in her arms and she realized dimly that she was strong enough to stop if she wanted to but did she want to stop? Bella didn't want her to. But did she?

"Alice," Bella whispered. "What's wrong?"

Alice pulled back and looked into Bella's face. Bella's eyes were lidded and her whole upper half was smeared in blood. Her lips were lilywhite. Alice reached out and caressed Bella cheek and Bella leaned into the touch dreamily, closing her eyes. Alice placed a kiss on Bella's lips, coloring them red. Then she leaned again to the wound in her lover's neck and closed her eyes.

But she had come to her senses. She was only sucking out the venom.

.

Bella woke to the glare of a fluorescent light in the ceiling. She was in a bed. She was lightheaded and it was hard to keep her eyes open. The ceiling was white and when she turned her head on the pillow she saw a monitor with a heartrate sensor set up beside her bed going beep beep beep, the green graph jumping with each beep. She turned her head the other side and saw her mom was sitting in a chair at her bedside. She was asleep and half slouched over the bed. Bella's arms were composed either side of her and she realized that her mom was holding her hand. She looked around one last time but she couldn't see Alice anywhere. There was white gauze wrapped around her neck.

"Mom," Bella croaked. "Mom…"

Her mom jerked awake. Her eyes were red as if she'd been crying and when she woke she threw her arms around Bella and started sobbing. She said she was so glad Bella was okay and that she thought she'd lost her and that she was sorry for not being here to take care of her. Bella brushed aside these concerns by repeating that she was alright and when she got a chance the first thing she asked was where Alice was. Her mother's lip trembled and she watched Bella. She looked at her as if she didn't recognize her. Then she rose to her feet and said she'd go get the doctor.

They told her she'd been in a coma for two days. They said she'd lost a lot of blood. They said they had to shock her back to life and that it was doubtful that she was going to come out of the coma at all. Bella was hardly listening. She kept looking at the door anxiously. After a while her father arrived and the doctor left. As if he'd only been filling in until Charlie got there. Both her parents sat at her bedside and her mother held her hand and they asked her what happened. They said she'd lost a lot of blood. They wanted to know how that happened. They said that Alice had disappeared and they didn't know what happened and Bella told them that she'd tried to kill herself by slashing her throat because she wanted to show Alice how much she loved her. It was almost the truth, but it wasn't what the parents wanted to hear. Her mother started crying and even her father got teary eyed. They started to tell her that everything would be okay and that they'd get through this together and then they started arguing. Her mom accused her dad of not taking care of her properly and voices were raised and eventually her dad just walked out the room. Then her mother went after him to apologize. Now that Bella was alone she was certain that Alice would appear. She waited with a throbbing heart but Alice didn't come. It was a nurse that came into the room next and Bella asked her if a girl with short black hair and pale skin had been by at any time to see her. The nurse said she didn't know. Later still the doctor came again. Bella asked him the same question but he said he didn't know either.

They kept her overnight for observation. Bella lay awake in the darkness, her heart tightening with each passing moment. She was afraid that Alice had left her. Afraid that she'd made her angry or sad, or worse she was afraid that now that Alice had tasted her blood she wouldn't want her anymore. She tried to stay awake but she was so weak and so tired. Her eyes drifted shut. When she opened them again she saw Alice standing at the foot of her bed.

"Alice…!" Bella breathed. She threw aside the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed and touched her barefeet to the cold floor. Lightheaded and dizzy she took two steps toward Alice and fell against her, wrapping her arms around her and laying her head on her shoulder. "Oh Alice," she said. "I'm so glad you're here."

Alice lifted her arms around Bella and smelled her hair. "Hi," she said.

Bella held her. Neither spoke, they just stood there holding each other. Then Alice said: "You should get back in bed, Bella."

"Just let me hold you."

"You can hold me in bed. Come on."

Alice helped Bella back to the bed and helped her get in. She got in herself and drew the covers over both of them. It was a single bed and their heads lay on the same pillow and as soon as Alice was at her side Bella rolled on top of her and threw a leg over her body possessively. They watched each other in the darkness. "You'd never leave me, would you Alice?" Bella whispered.

Alice smiled. "Of course not, Bella," she said. "Not even for your own good."

Bella surged forward and kissed her fiercely. She pulled back and smiled with watery eyes. "Why did you stop, Alice? I didn't want you to stop."

Alice touched her face. "Because I can't live without you, Bella. And, unlike you, I've had a glimpse of the future and I know how wonderful it could be."

Bella sniffed. "I thought you'd left me."

"I'd never leave you, Bella."

"I know. But you weren't here. And my parents said you'd disappeared."

"I had to wait until it was dark to visit. And I've been in hiding because… Because I was afraid. I was terrified that you wouldn't wake up. I couldn't deal with anyone or anything, all I could do was wait. But I was here every night. Right here, in your bed. Holding you just like this."

"Just like this?"

"Just like this."

They fell silent. Bella smiled softly. "I wish you didn't stop," she said gently. "When you bit me. It would've been so perfect."

Alice smiled, playing with Bella's hair. "You only think that now. But if you knew how perfect it's _going_ to be, you'd think differently."

Bella sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry, Alice. I shouldn't have asked you to do something you didn't want to do."

"It's okay. I'm glad you did. Because in doing so we've discovered the true nature of our relationship."

"We have?"

"Mmhm. By offering your life you proved that you truly do love me. And by refusing to take it I proved that I truly do love you. Which means…"

"We truly do love each other."

Alice kissed Bella's temple. "Yes."

Bella smiled and snuggled closer. "I guess so. But I still wish you didn't stop."

Alice giggled. "You're so cute, Bella. Suicidally cute, but cute nonetheless."

.

Bella was discharged the next day. A psychiatrist came in the morning and interviewed her briefly but she had little to say and soon she was on her way home with her parents. They rode mostly in silence. Her mother mentioned she'd be staying in the guest room for a while. When they got home Bella went straight up to her room but her smile faltered as the door swung shut behind her. Alice wasn't there. Bella stepped forward cautiously. Then two cold arms closed around her middle from behind and Bella spun around smiling and pulled Alice into a kiss.

In the weeks to follow Alice would come to her every night. Crawling through her window and into her bed where Bella lay waiting. Soon they were they both back in school and lunchtimes would find them strolling the grounds hand in hand and after school they'd study together in the library. They spent the weekends together, romantic dinners, endless shopping trips. By now the gauze around Bella's neck was gone and the stitches removed from the wound and one day they were roaming a flea market in Seattle where Alice bought Bella a black lace collar to cover the scar. It fit snuggly around her neck and it was about two inches wide and it had a floral pattern. Bella loved it and as Alice reached behind her neck to put it on her they giggled over the symbolism and Alice called Bella her pet and Bella called Alice her mistress and then they linked arms and strolled on.

Within a month their relationship had stabilized to the point where Bella was allowed to invite Alice over legitimately. They had confronted Charlie together, hand in hand, and Alice had apologized for all the distress she'd caused and Bella added that it was more her own fault than Alice's. Charlie didn't like it to begin with but he had little choice in the matter and soon they were all watching baseball games together, Charlie on his chair, Bella and Alice on the sofa in each other's arms. They'd whisper to each other as the commentary droned in the background and Charlie would shoot them dark looks and Alice would always leave after the game but she'd be waiting in Bella's room when Bella got up there.

One evening Alice invited Bella over for dinner at her house. She said she wanted the family to meet her properly. Bella was reluctant but she wasn't one to deny her girlfriend anything she wanted so she said she'd go and on Saturday evening they pulled up in the Cullen driveway in Alice's yellow Porsche. Alice got out and opened the door for Bella and Bella took the offered hand and stepped out. They went up to the front door. "So," Alice said. "You're about to walk into a den full of vampires, how do you feel?"

"Nervous. Do you think they'll like me?"

"They better."

They went inside and found the Cullen's all gathered in the kitchen around the stove and the breakfast counter and when Bella and Alice walked in they all went silent and looked at them. Dinner quietly simmered on the stove. It smelt like Italian.

"Everyone," Alice said. "This is Bella."

Bella was holding Alice's hand, gripping it, and she waved the other one awkwardly. "Hi."

There was a woman with an apron around her waist at the stove holding a wooden spoon. She smiled warmly. "Well," she said, "it's very nice to finally meet you, Bella. Alice talks about you all the time."

"Yeah," Emmett grinned. "You should hear some of the shit she says."

"Emmett," Alice hissed.

Bella smiled and one by one Alice took her around and introduced her. She knew most of them from school but Alice introduced them by name anyway and she shook hands with Carlisle and Esme gave her a tight hug and then they sat down to dinner. There was only one plate served and that was Bella's. Everyone else sat around the large walnutwood table watching her eat, asking her questions about her life, telling stories about Alice. Esme was rather anxious about the food and Bella assured her several times that it was delicious.

After dinner Alice took Bella upstairs into her room and showed her all the drawings she'd done of her. They were drawings of her visions, she said, from before she'd even met Bella. They sat cross legged on Alice's bed. Bella sifted through them smiling. She said they were beautiful. Alice said the real thing was prettier. Then she leaned forward and placed a kiss on Bella's lips. Bella laid aside the drawing in her hands and laid back on the pillow.

It was only when Alice started unbuttoning her jeans that she started to panic. "Alice!" she hissed. "What are you doing? Your family's downstairs!"

But Alice only grinned. "You'd better not scream then."

When they came downstairs they were fully dressed, Bella's hair slightly ruffled. Emmett and Jasper were playing a video game and whether they'd heard or just assumed they both smirked over their shoulders as Bella and Alice went by.

Alice drove Bella home and that night they lay awake a long time in the darkness, whispering back and forth.

"Alice," Bella said, snuggling closer. "When are you going to turn me into a vampire?"

"I'm not sure," Alice replied, playing with her hair. "Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. If I was a vampire you wouldn't feel so cold, would you? That would be nice."

"Yes. But if you were a vampire you wouldn't be so fragile. And I like you fragile."

"I like me fragile too."

"Oh Bella. You're such a passive little thing."

"I know," Bella said, snuggling closer against Alice sleepily. She laid her head on Alice's chest and closed her eyes. "But you know…" she said. "You don't have to turn me into a vampire if you don't want to. You could always just bite me. If you want."

Alice sighed and kissed the top of Bella's head. "How many times do I have to tell you, Bella? We're going to be together forever and that's final. Okay?"

"Okay. But just remember. I still love you enough to let you do it. If you want."

"Bella…"

"I'm sorry. Just remember, okay? If you ever get tired of me. If you don't want to see me anymore. I'd rather die."

"I would too, Bella. I'd rather die than live without you."

"Okay. Just remember."

"I will. Go to sleep, Bella."

"Okay. Sweet dreams, Alice. Oh sorry. You don't sleep, do you?"

Alice giggled. "It's a dream just to hold you, Bella."

"Oh Alice. I love you."

"I love you too, Bella. Sleep well."

They fell silent. Alice lay listening to Bella's breathing, feeling the warmth of her body. She thought about her and about her insecurities and then she squeezed her gently. "Bella," she whispered. "Bella, are you asleep?"

"No. What is it?"

"Do you want to know the real reason why I haven't turned you into a vampire yet?"

Bella raised up on her elbow and looked at Alice sleepily. "Yes."

Alice smiled. "Because when you turn, you'll freeze at that age. And I want you to be older."

"How old?"

"Well, it's not so much a matter of years, as it is a matter of… proportions."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm waiting till your tits get bigger."

Bella stared at her. Then she burst out laughing. Shrieking gales of laughter that had her falling on top of Alice and shuddering in glee. Alice grinned and quickly smothered the guffaws with her hand over Bella's mouth. She held her quivering form on top of her tight and hissed for her to be quiet. "Bella! Bella, shh! Shh, you'll wake up Charlie."

Bella got herself under control and raised up on her elbow, still hiccupping little giggles, and looked at Alice with glistening eyes. "Are you serious, Alice? Are you seriously serious?"

Alice smiled, an impish glint to her eyes. "Deadly serious."

Bella stared at her, open mouthed and grinning. "You are serious, aren't you?" Bella asked in disbelief. "You are waiting for my… to get bigger, aren't you?"

"I'd be a fool not too, Bella. You're sexy now, sure, but your potential is astronomical."

"I don't believe it. Eternal youth and beauty denied me by my flat chest."

"It's hardly flat, Bella. It's just not as developed as it will be in, say, a year from now."

Bella groaned. "A full year? You're going to wait a full year to turn me?"

"At least."

Bella's shoulders slumped. "I thought it would be like… another month at most. I was looking forward to when you wouldn't be so cold."

Alice's smile was more gentle now, more sincere. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'd love to tell you that you're perfect the way you are—and you are, really—but the truth is I would just love it if your figure was a little more filled out."

Bella sighed. "As if I wasn't insecure enough about my self-worth in this relationship."

Alice giggled and reached up and pulled Bella's head back to her chest. "I'm sorry, Bella. I'll make a deal with you, okay? I'll turn you when you hit a D cup. Sound fair?"

"No," Bella said poutily. "I don't know what it sounds like."

"Bella," Alice admonished playfully. "What happened to my passive little sex slave, hm? Where'd she go?"

Bella grinned into Alice's chest, shaking her head. "She's right here, but she's not passive enough to accept this kind of treatment."

"Well, I'll tell you what. We'll compromise. You wait for me to turn you for as long as I desire, and I'll give you something in return. Anything you want. Within reason, of course."

"Oh Alice. What could I ask you for that you haven't already given me?"

"I don't know. A diamond necklace? A mink coat? An exotic automobile, maybe?"

Bella shook her head. "Just promise to keep loving me, okay? If you keep loving me, I'll wait for as long as you want for whatever you want to do to me. Anything at all. Okay?"

Alice glanced down at the top of Bella's head. She kissed it. "I'll always love you, Bella."

"I love you too."

Alice smiled. "Hey, I have an idea."

"What, implants?"

Alice giggled. "No, silly. I was thinking we could move in together."

Bella's eyes opened. She raised up on her elbow and looked at Alice. "Are you serious?"

"Of course," Alice said. "I think it'll be fun. While you're still human, you know? I was thinking we could get our own place, somewhere in town. And I could learn to cook. And we could go furniture shopping together. Wouldn't that be awesome?"

Bella smiled excitedly, her heart pounding. "Are you serious, Alice? Do you really want to?"

Alice grinned. "Of course I do. And it'll be flu season too. Maybe you'll get sick and I can take care of you."

"Are you really sure, Alice? Do you really want to live with me?"

"Yes, you silly thing. How can you be so surprised? Isn't it obvious by now that my sole objective in life is to be close to you?"

Bella bit her lip, still grinning. "I just don't believe it. Would I still have to go to school?"

"I'm afraid so. There's no way I'm missing out on taking you to prom."

"But do we have enough money? I don't have any."

"Forget about money, Bella. I got plenty."

"I just don't believe it. Do you really want to live with me, Alice? Like, living in the same house? Me and you, all day every day? You wouldn't get sick of me?"

"We're together all day anyway, Bella. Living together just means more privacy. And a place we can make our own."

Bella grinned. She tucked some hair behind her ear and floundered speechless for a moment. "O-Okay," she said. "Okay, I'd love too. Are you sure you still want to?"

Alice smiled. "Yes, Bella," she said. "I'll always want to."

.

Charlie wasn't very happy about the idea but like most things concerning his daughter's relationship with Alice he had no choice. In the discussion they'd had the question of money was raised and Charlie was stunned when Alice quite casually mentioned that she'd won the lottery in New York last year. It was true too, she'd predicted the numbers. She also said that she had some modeling gigs in Seattle and decent prospects for a career in fashion. Bella herself said she had no aspirations beyond typical housewifey kind of stuff. Charlie listened to it all with a deepening frown. He said they were too young and they said they didn't care and that was the end of it. Nothing more was said and by the end of the week Bella and Alice were out house hunting.

The place they found was a modestly beautiful two-story house of red brick that was part of a new housing development on the edge of town. They were all beautiful houses and all more or less identical. Not as extravagant as Alice had in mind, but perfect for Bella.

The realtor was a woman who led them through the bare rooms with a smile and a clipboard, pointing out the house's various features to them with an excited air as if she herself were the one considering it. The house smelled new and fresh and Bella loved it right away. The living room was enormous and the light fitting hung from an ornate plaster mould and the fireplace was clean and bright. They made a circuit of the downstairs and then the upstairs and they wound up in a room that overlooked the yard below, the healthy grass, the birdbath. It was beautiful.

"It's wonderful isn't it?" the realtor said, smiling. "And plenty of room for a nursery. You girl's planning on having kids?"

Bella looked taken aback at the question. She looked at Alice, she looked at the realtor. "How?"

Alice burst out laughing. The realtor blushed and smiled. "Well, I was assuming adoption," she said, "but I can see you haven't given much thought to it. I suppose you're both still rather young for such things, anyway."

They moved in the day the deed was finalized. Neither of them took much of their old stuff besides clothes and on that first night the house was still mostly bare besides a bed they bought and assembled themselves in one of the upstairs bedrooms and a closet and a sideboard with an alarm clock. In the kitchen there was a refrigerator lightly stocked and some cooking implements hanging from hooks. The living room was empty and all the other bedrooms. Tomorrow they were going shopping and they'd be taking Bella's truck.

When they'd first arrived Alice had carried Bella through the door bridal-style as it was tradition, and that night when they were making love Alice stayed Bella's hand by the wrist as Bella was about to insert a finger. "Use your whole hand," Alice said breathlessly.

Bella wasn't sure what she meant. "What do you mean?"

Alice smiled and made a fist in the shape of a teardrop. "Like this."

Bella's eyes widened. "Won't that hurt?"

"I'm a vampire, Bella," Alice said, laying back. "You couldn't hurt me with a tent pole."

Bella had her misgivings but she did it anyway. And about an hour later they were in the hospital emergency room with Bella's hand fractured in four different places from the crushing contraction of Alice's orgasm.

"How did this happen?" the doctor asked curiously, as he wrapped the hand in a tan colored gauze.

Bella blushed. Alice giggled and laid a hand on Bella's shoulder. "She got it caught in a door, the silly thing."

In the weeks to follow they set about furnishing their house. They went room by room, first the essentials, then the trimmings. They got a wallscreen plasma TV, surround sound, a leather sofa that was like sitting on a cloud. The Cullen's all came by with housewarming gifts, Emmett with an Xbox and copy of Halo, Edward with a shipping order for a grand piano. Esme gave them a blender. Charlie came by with a frown but he was quietly surprised by how happy the two girls seemed. They were still going to school and by now they'd become less the object of disgust and more of curiosity and in some cases envy. It took a full month to fully outfit the house and even then they'd still remember things they needed at odd moments. By now they'd fallen into a improvised routine, grocery shopping on Fridays, vacuuming on Saturdays. Sundays to relax in each other's arms. Alice would often do the housework while Bella slept and after some disastrous first tries she finally learnt to cook a decent dinner. They were happy. They were together.

Soon it was prom. Alice was determined to sew Bella a dress, and to this purpose Bella was soon stripping down in their bedroom while Alice stood by with a tape measure and a smirk, an impish haberdasher. Bella stood with her arms out and Alice wrapped the tape around her bust, her waist, her hips, nodding approvingly, dress ideas swimming through her head. When they walked into the gym on prom night Bella was wearing a long gown of black satin that clung to her sexily and Alice was wearing a simple pink dress with lace and bellshaped skirts. Heads turned to watch them pass hand in hand onto the dancefloor and there they swayed in each others arms, swaying under the colored light of discolamps, not a thought in their heads but of each other.

Later that night Alice pushed Bella up against the wall of their bedroom and kissed her passionately. They had shed their dresses and the dresses lay tossed on the floor. Alice's body was pressed against Bella's and the kiss was so passionate it was almost violent. Since the night at the motel Alice's lust for Bella's blood but been placated but now it was starting to make itself felt again. She nipped Bella's neck and Bella gasped.

"Alice," Bella said, weaving her hands in Alice's hair. "Alice, what are you doing?"

Alice ran her tongue along Bella's throat. "Nothing. It's okay."

"Do you want to do it?"

"No."

Bella pushed Alice away and held her face and gazed at her liddedly. "It's okay, I know you want to."

"Bella—"

"It's okay," Bella repeated. "You don't have to kill me or turn me. You can suck out the venom if you want. But if you want to do it, just do it."

"What if I can't stop?"

"It's okay. I trust you."

Alice leaned forward and captured Bella's lips. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay. But not the neck. It's too dangerous."

"Where then?"

Alice's hand went between Bella's legs and squeezed the inside of her thigh. "How about here?"

"Anywhere, Alice. Anywhere you want."

Alice scooped Bella up into her arms and tossed her on the bed. Bella's legs fell open bonelessly. Alice climbed on top of her and covered her mouth in a searing kiss and then she straddled Bella's face backwards and lowered herself to Bella's parted legs and bit into the soft warm flesh of Bella's pale thigh.

.

Bella lived to be twenty-one before Alice finally turned her. She'd graduated high school and college and Alice had never left her side and never gotten sick of her. When the time came they had journeyed together into the mountains in the springtime where Alice had bathed her in a cool clear lake and carried her dripping onto the shore. There was a rock shaped roughly like an altar and Alice placed Bella upon it like an offering and leaned and bit into her chest just above her heart. Bella closed her eyes and held Alice's head there.

Sometimes when Bella used to look at Alice her eyes would water. As if the love in her heart were literally overflowing. In her days as a vampire there would be no more tears. As if in it's stilled state the heart that hung quietly in her chest had finally attained the serenity to bare the love it bore, and from the moment her eyes first fluttered open to behold Alice with a vampire's clarity there would be no doubt in her mind that they had been destined from the first to be together forever.

…

The end

**AN: Well, there it is. I hope it's not too disappointing. I don't know what everyone was expecting, but this story was never intended to be a tragedy.**

**Anyway, once again thank you to everyone who reviewed. I know this fic turned out rather muddled, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway.**


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